


of Stars and Sixers

by GayKravitz



Series: OSAS - Main Story, Prologues, Epilogues, and More [4]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Aliens, Angst, Argonians basically, Bounty Hunters, Canon Divergence - Not What He Seems, Codenames, Gen, Generic Forest #4, Hunting, Hurt/Comfort, Illustrations, Injury, Mabel Pines Goes Through The Portal, Mabel Swears Now, Magic, Not as fun as it sounds, Paranoia, Portal Adventures, Sorry Ladies He's Gay, Straight Up Witchcraft, Unrequited Love, dimension hopping, satyrs, space adventures, teen Mabel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2019-09-06 09:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16830187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayKravitz/pseuds/GayKravitz
Summary: Ford has been lost in the multiverse for 34 years, and has failed in all his attempts to take down Bill Cipher. He finds friends, old and new, to help him- but he isn't sure about this Shooting Star girl. Who is she, exactly? How did another human from Earth end up in the multiverse like he did?---Mabel fell into the portal when she was 12 years old and she's been surviving on her own for 4 years. There have been others with her, of course, but every one leaves eventually. Except she refuses to let go of the only family she has left. Even if Grunkle Ford doesn't know that they're family.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HI HI HEY okay ive been working on this FOR FOREVER, and the chapters are definitely going to be sporadic but many. i'm gonna try for one every two weeks but we'll see. It's gonna be kinda a long one, I hope. mostly ford and mabel's portal adventures with angst and fun world building.
> 
> do keep in mind that the beginning is a little rough, i promise that it gets better. just stick with me, eh?
> 
> ALSO you should totally read to prologue. just saying. it'll make sense without it but you'll get some idea of how mabel survived at first.

The cold air bit at his skin even through his clothes as he trudged through the snow. The sun had set long ago, nothing left but the waning moon and twinkling star above him to give him light. The forest was barren and empty, all the trees without leaves and the ground covered in damp and dead underbrush. It was quiet all around, no sounds echoing through the woods except for the steady pace of Stanford Pines

Ford glanced at the night sky with all its unfamiliar constellations through his tinted goggles, trying fruitlessly to find one that he knew. The effort was for nothing, he knew he wouldn’t find anything he knew on this knockoff earth. It may be almost similar to his home planet but it was nothing like it. The night sky was covered in galaxies and nebulas, unlike the simple milky way you could see from Earth.

The traveler spared a look behind him, making sure he wasn’t being followed. He was clear and he continued to walk through the inches of white snow. As he scanned the horizon for any signs of his destination, he reached into his coat and pulled out a canteen. He pulled down the scarf covering the lower half of his face and sipped from it, draining the last of it. He put it away and returned his mask back in place just in time to spot a flashing light in the distance.

The orange light flickered in a repeating pattern that made Ford pause to read it. He squinted and pulled a roughly put together notebook from his pocket along with a pen and wrote down the code from the light in the corner of his most recent entry.

**_.. .-. ..- --._ **

Ford frowned and bit the tip of his tongue in his mouth. He spent a minute mentally decoding it, taking a second to check it, and nodded contently at the results. He stowed his book away, increasing his pace as he made his way towards the flashing light.

He reached it quickly, finding a small wooden cabin with a lantern in the window. Ford let out a breath and made his way to the door. He removed one of his gloves and leaned close to the door, listening for movement inside before knocking on it in code again, a response to the code he saw.

**_.--- .-.. --.- -.._ **

All was silent for a moment before the door swung open and Ford stumbled inside. He let out a huff of appreciation for getting out of the cold and immediately got to work to removing his goggles, gloves, and scarf.

“Well, look what the manticore dragged in.” A hushed voice said, and Ford felt himself smile as he set his pack down near the door and fell onto the ratty old couch near the empty hearth. A woman was grinning at him, her hands on her hips, and twisting horns on either side of her head like a ram’s. Her feet were cloven hooves, her body from the waist down was furry, and she had the tiniest hint of sideburns surrounding her soft jaw. Her brown hair fell to her waist, bangs slicked back and shining in the soft light of the lantern.

“Gina.” Ford breathed in greeting, cracking one eye open to look at her. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Seriously.” Gina rolled her eyes, moving towards the small kitchenette, her hooves scraping softly against the grainy and rotting wood floor. “I don’t want my reputation spoiled because I decided to do you a favor. My parents already have a search party out for me, I know it.”

Ford nodded, a smile on his face. “Alright, I won’t say anything. Just know, you have my gratitude for helping me with this.”

“It’s not like I’m gonna say no to you.” She smiled and moved a silver kettle to the burner, flicking it on. “What kind of tea do you want?”

Ford hummed in thought, crossing his legs on the couch. “Do you have that tea I had the last time?”

Gina wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Gross. Yes, but gross.” She brought out two metal cups and a couple boxes from the small cupboard and set them next to the gas stove.

Ford rolled his eyes, voting not to get into that argument again. “It’s good to see you again, by the way.”

Gina glanced over her shoulder, flicking one of her ears with a fond smile. “You too, you old fart. Before you called me up a week ago, I thought you got caught by you-know-who all those years back.”

Ford raised an eyebrow. “‘You-know-who’? You do know you can say his name, right?”

“Hey, in the dimension that I’m from, names give you power. I don’t wanna give that demon anymore power than he already has.” Gina explained herself, and Ford huffed slightly at the explanation of it.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You are... mostly correct in that assumption.”

The satyr sucked in a breath in shock. “Jeez. I’m assuming it wasn’t a pleasant time, huh?”

Ford shook his head, feeling his shoulders tense at the memory. “No, not exactly a five-star stay.” He paused, brows furrowing as he recalled what had happened. “The Nightmare Realm isn’t a place for any mortal to stay longer than absolutely needed, lest they go insane from the horrors being kept there. I was basically Cipher’s personal… punching bag, you could say.”

The kettle whistled suddenly, making Ford jump and Gina hissed out apologies as she took it off the stove and poured it into the two prepared mugs. Ford pressed a hand to his chest, willing his heart to stop hammering from the small scare, and gratefully accepted the mug as Gina settled herself next to him. The weight next to him calmed him and he forced himself to sip his tea before continuing.

“Right. Anyways, as I was saying.” Ford cleared his throat as Gina watched him with concern. “I was his punching bag. He taunted me and tortured me for weeks. He thought he had won, and I did too, for a time.” Ford went quiet, his mind wandering to the short couple of weeks he had spent in the Nightmare Realm. “He had me in a cage, on display to all of his minions like a pet. I managed to escape when he became distracted by something that fell into his world, and I got out as fast as I could.”

Gina hadn’t touched her tea, just listening to him as he told her what happened. “Yeesh. I’m glad you got out of there, at least. If you had stayed longer…”

Ford shuddered at the thought of what could’ve happened, had he stayed longer in the Nightmare Realm. “I’m thankful for whatever had caused him to become distracted. He hardly ever let me out of his sight in all those months, it was nothing short of a miracle.”

Gina nodded, finally taking a sip of her tea. “What have you been doing since?”

Ford scratched at his scruffy beard, thinking for a moment. “Same old, I suppose. Trying to find a new way to take him down since my last plan failed.” He stared down into his cup, the steam fogging his glasses up on the edges. “I can’t fail this time. Last time, I was alone with no one to watch my back. That was my mistake.”

Gina smiled. “That’s why I’m here now, right? You just need a little help from some friends.”

Ford swallowed thickly and smiled back. “Yes. Right.”

They finished their tea in companionable silence, listening to soft breeze outside. Ford took the time to wonder if this was a good idea, trusting other people. The last time he’d trusted someone, he’d almost destroyed his entire dimension. The last time before that when he’d trusted someone, he almost had his mind erased. The last time even before _that_ when he’d trusted someone, his entire future _was_ destroyed. Was trusting other people to help him really a good idea?

Ford clenched his fist and scowled at his reflection in his tea. He had to try, at least. If it didn’t work, if someone betrayed him again, he would stop trusting people again. But he’s come this far, he can’t give up just because of some personal grievances that happened years ago.

He stood, taking his cup to the small sink and drank the rest before setting in in the basin. He heaved out a sigh and forced his thoughts away firmly. No, it was going to work. This plan was all he had, anyways, and if he just gave it up then he was going to have to start all over again.

“Ford?” Gina called from the couch. “You should get some sleep. The guys’ll be here in the morning, you can afford a little rest. I’ll take watch.”

Ford turned, a smile on his face. “Thank you, Gina.”

She hopped up from the couch and placed her mug into the sink as well and pulled up a wooden chair to the window with the lantern that was currently the only light in the small cabin.

Ford laid on the couch, shifting slightly before finding a comfortable position. He breathed out, letting his eyes shut and his breathing even out as Gina looked out the window.

He hadn’t noticed he had been asleep until he was awake suddenly, gasping softly. He sat up quickly, blinking sleep from his eyes as he adjusted his glasses. “Gina?” He whispered gruffly, clearing his throat. Ford looked around the small cabin. Morning light poured in from the two small windows at the front, warm and crisp.

Gina looked at him from her place at the window, smiling and stretching. “Morning, sleeping beauty. Sleep well?”

No. Ford felt like he’d gotten far less sleep than he had. He nodded anyways and swung his legs over the edge of the couch and feeling his boots plant firmly against the wood. “No one yet?”

“Nope.” She popped the P, shaking her head. “Nothing.”

Ford nodded and groggily made his way to the kitchen. He prepared another cup of tea, finding whatever tea had the most caffeine and adding three bags to his cup. He didn’t wait for the water to boil all the way, just enough for it to be hot enough to be drinkable.

He set his tea to brew for a moment and dug through his bag, finding a couple granola bars from a few dimensions ago. He tossed one at Gina, who bleated in surprise at the bar hitting one of her horns before tearing into the packaging.

Ford munched slowly on his own, taking large gulps of the caffeinated and disgustingly strong tea he made. The caffeine was a blessing, honestly, he rarely was able to find anything caffeinated. He made a note to bring the tea with him when he left.

Just as he finished breakfast, Gina stood from her chair, startling Ford. He swallowed his last bite of food with the last gulp of tea and stood with her, quickly gearing up. He could hear footsteps slowly approaching the cabin, the crunch of snow being stepped on. He rested his hand on his holster in case it wasn’t who they were expecting.

There was the telltale creak of boots on the wooden porch, and a pause. Ford was already calculating the best means of escape, but was interrupted by three booming knocks to the wooden door.

It was the signal. Gina reached over and opened the door slowly, revealing the two figures in the entryway.

Ford furrowed his brow as they entered, one after the other. This couldn’t possibly be the person he was expecting.

One of them, the one in the back, was short, really short. About 4’5” give or take. They were lizard-like, with their rough, scaled skin and swishing tail. They had feathers cresting their head and large, yellow eyes that seemed to move independently from each other. Their scales were a mix of bright crimson to deep ocean blue, the red standing out on the high points of their face.

The other looked _human_. One hundred percent human, probably. She was almost as tall as Ford, possibly a few inches shorter, which brought her to about 5’7”. She had wavy brown hair that fell to just above her shoulders on only one side of the head. The other half of her head was shaved, and had two parallel scars running from her hairline to the back of her head. She had a scar on her jaw, too, and a nick on her brow, all on the same side of her face as the scalp scars. She was wearing a bright pink turtleneck with a golden key embroidered onto it, and a leather navy blue vest that seemed to have it’s sleeves ripped off.

Despite her height and battle scars, Ford could tell immediately that she was a _child_. A teenager. Her cheeks still had a hint of baby fat that a life on the road couldn’t shake, and she was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet when she came to a pause in the entryway.

“What?” Ford heard Gina mutter as the two entered, shutting the door behind them.

The girl looked around the place, placing her hands on her hips. She let out a low whistle. “Nice place. Not really my style, but we probably won’t be staying long, right?” Her eyes fell onto Ford and she scowled like he’d offended her by just existing. Ford scowled right back. Who the hell was this kid?

“What’s going on?” Gina asked before Ford could voice his own questions. The girl turned to her and her frown disappeared into a bright grin.

“Oh, wow! You’re so pretty!” She was gushing over Gina suddenly, who looked confused by the sudden tone shift. “I _love_ your horns! You should be a model!”

“Uh, thanks?” Gina raised an eyebrow and glanced at Ford, who felt his temper spike.

“Alright, who the hell are you?” Ford growled, grabbing the girl by the shoulder and roughly spinning her around. “Why are you here?”

“What are you talking about?” She pulled away from his touch, her eyes narrowed. “We were, uh, invited! Doi!”

“ _Excuse me_?”

“You’re excused! But, seriously, what the fuck? You _invited_ us. Pretty rude to ask us to come all the way here and then decide that you don’t _actually_ want our help! I mean, what was even the point of all the riddles and codes and shit if you didn’t want us to come?” The girl ranted, jabbing a finger towards Ford. Gina and the lizard stood back, hands held up as the two others argued.

“What?” Ford asked, incredulous. “What are you talking about? You’re a child! I never invited a child out here! I invited the person who said they had a lead on how to defeat Cipher!”

She gave him a wide, tight lipped smile and held out her hand to him. “Hi, I’m Shooting Star, and I’m here to help you bring down Bill Cipher.”

Ford scoffed and pushed her hand away. “No. There’s no way a _child_ knows how to take down a demon like him.”

“Try me.” Shooting Star growled, squinting at him. “You’re the one who called me!”

“Obviously, I was mistaken.” Ford crossed his arms. “Go home, kid, and don’t come back. We’ll find a way without you.”

Shooting Star threw her hands up in frustration. “For fuck’s sake! Whatever! If you don’t want help, then good luck going it alone!” She turned to leave, hissing something under her breath that Ford didn’t quite hear and didn’t care to hear.

“Wait!” Gina interrupted, grabbing both Star and Ford by the wrists. “Just listen to her for a sec, will you? You said you’d start trusting people more!”

Ford looked between Gina and Star, gritting his teeth. He pulled his hand from Gina. “Fine. Let’s... hear her out.”

Star smirked. “You won’t regret it.”

The three of them sat in the small living room together, Shooting Star pulling off her ratty hot pink sweater and tying it around her waist. Her arms were even more scared than he thought they would be. Burns, scrapes, slashes, stabs, a gunshot scar- it was as if someone had painted her skin with the most painful paintbrush imaginable. Some were more faded, some more recent, all ranging from pale and small to wide and an angry pink.

The lizard person- Teemo, he learned was their name- was keeping watch. They were apparently mute and seemed to be able to communicate with only Star and only in odd head and hand movements that Ford had never seen before.

“Okay.” Star breathed, and dug through her bag. She was sat opposite of Ford and Gina in a chair that matched the rest of the furniture- old, dusty, and almost falling apart. She brought out a paper and rolled it out on the small coffee table, revealing it to be a schematic. Ford studied it for a second, not making any sense of it at first. He almost made it out to be some sort of weapon when Star spoke again. “Here’s what I’ve got.

“As you _probably_ know, Bill is only able to exist in liminal spaces, such as the Nightmare Realm or the Mindscape. In places that are closer to the Nightmare Realm than others, such as some small towns, he can show himself to those existing in the physical world by inducing a temporary Mindscape.” Star explained, her hands moving as she spoke. “This means we have to defeat him inside of one of these spaces. We can’t let him get a physical form, and we can’t let him into our minds. Both of those are only for _worst case scenarios_.”

“We all know this already.” Ford rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t need to be explained.”

Star glared at him. “Just making sure we’re on the same page.”

She continued, gesturing to Ford. “You tried to kill him in the Nightmare Realm- which, gotta say, bad idea! You also tried to do it alone- which, again! Horrible idea! Bill thrives on misery basically, he eats it for breakfast, and being alone is the _key_ to being a very miserable old man who gets beat by a flying Dorito.”

Ford scowled and glared at Star. Gina snickered, and he elbowed her roughly in the side, making her bleat. “Hey, it’s kind of true!”

Star grinned at her little joke. “Aaaaanyways, plan failed! Boo! That’s why we aren’t going it alone this time, right, Sixer?”

He almost forgot that he had given Sixer as his name in his message to Shooting Star, and it sent a spike of paranoia through his head that he quickly got under control. It was _fine_. He studied her eyes for a split second, and relaxed slightly when there was no yellowish glint to be found.

Ford sighed, trying to get a reign on his agitation. He nodded curtly

“Good! Okay, now listen up. Here’s the plan this time around.”

Gina leaned in closer and Ford leaned back, crossing his arms.

Star took a deep breath. “We’re foregoing any ‘charging in and hoping for the best’ plans, no matter how good you think your gun is.” She eyed Ford, who was growing increasingly _more_ agitated the more she insulted his last plan. “We’re going for a less but also _waaaaay_ more direct approach. Now, keep an open mind here! But, we’re going to summon him.”

Ford sat up, ready to explain exactly why that was a _horrible_ idea, when Star put a hand up. “Ah, ah! Hear me out!”

“Fine.” Ford snapped, sitting back again. “Go on. Tell us exactly how that isn’t the _worst_ idea in all the multiverse.”

“Okay.” Star smiled in an almost _smug_ manner. “Here’s why it isn’t a bad idea!” She pulled a book out of her bag, and Ford’s eyes widened. It was a black book with a classic pentagram on the cover, with no other words on it.

Ford burst out in laughter, interrupting the teenager before she had even said anything. Gina stared at him and Shooting Star glared daggers, but he couldn’t help it. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just- I knew you didn’t know what you were talking about but this?” Ford grabbed the book out of the girl’s hands and began to scan through it. “This is priceless! You can’t summon him like this! Hah! It’s even laughable that you think anything in this book is real!” He stopped on a page about the devil, snickering. “At best, this is wildly misinforming! It’s just _fiction_! It’s all fairytales!”

Star snatched it back. “ _Thank you_ , Sixer! I am _fully_ aware that most of this is fake, you _dumbass_ . So shut the fuck up and listen to me, you goddamn narcissistic ass Han Solo wannabe _!_ ” That shut Ford up, whose amused grin fell instantly. Gina laughed, holding her abdomen as she bent over in giggles. Ford was sure she didn’t even know who Han Solo _was_ , she was just laughing at his reaction.

Star took a deep breath again. “As I was saying, it isn’t a horrible idea because in this _purely fictional_ book-” She glared at Ford, who crossed his arms and huffed.”-there’s mentions of Devil Traps.” Ford raised an eyebrow, now curious, but still simmering over the insult. “And I’ve been researching demon stuff for a long time now. So, we’re going to make a Devil Trap for him.”

“How?” Gina asked. “I thought you just said they were fiction.”

“They are!” Star smiled. “But that’s where you guys come in!”

Ford leaned forward, uncrossing his arms. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you probably know Bill better than anyone, Sixer. You’ve gotta know how to keep him trapped, right? Like, maybe an incantation or transmutation circle or blood sacrifice… yikes, I hope it isn’t the last one.” Star grimaced, shuddering. “I’ve had enough of those for a lifetime.”

“What? You’ve done a- wait, nevermind, I don’t want to know.” Ford scrubbed at his face, thinking. “I… may know a way to trap him, but it’s impossible to find the components needed for-“

“Lay it on me, Sixer!” Star interrupted, beaming and a challenge in her eyes. “I’ll get it for you, promise.”

Ford eyed her in disbelief. “There’s no way you can get the items I need. We aren’t even in the right galaxy to acquire them, let alone the right dimension.”

“Try me.” She told him for the second time that day, and Ford scoffed at the challenge but relinquished the ingredients.

“Let’s see… I’ll need some moonstones, some mercury, purified water…” Ford listed them off on his fingers, Star nodding along. She opened her mouth, probably to tell him where she can get all of it, but Ford stopped her with a challenging stare. “And unicorn hair."

Star laughed. “ _Unicorn hair_ ? Really? I thought you didn’t believe in _fairytales_.”

Ford shrugged smugly. “If you can’t get it, it’s fine. We’ll come up with a better plan-“

Shooting Star slammed her fist on the table, making Ford and Gina jump. She was grinning in victory. “I never said I _couldn’t_ get it. I know _exactly_ where I can get unicorn hair.”

Ford’s smug smile dropped. “There’s no possible way that you can get unicorn hair outside of the Milky Way.”

Star smirked. She jerked her head towards the door. “There’s an Interdimensional Hub west of here. I happen to know a vendor there that can get his hands on anything, and I mean anything.” Ford frowned, squinting at Star. “He _also_ happens to owe me a _favor_.”

Ford shook his head, anger rising in his chest again. “There’s no possible way for that to happen! It’ll take years for any ship from here to reach the Milky Way!”

Star glared at him. “If you don’t believe me, fine, I’ll show you. We can leave later today.”

“You can get the other stuff, too, when you aren’t trying to prove you’re better than a teenager.” Gina mentioned, and Ford nodded, ignoring the last part.

“Alright, that’s settled.” Ford said. “So, we get him trapped, then what? We just shoot him?”

“I mean, when you put it that way…” Star rolled her eyes. “Yes, but you’re going to need to rebuild your Quantum Whatsit gun whatever with some adjustments. Here’s some that should be good.” She tapped the schematic. “He can’t be killed with it like we can with normal guns when he’s not in the Nightmare Realm, so we have to basically just overload him with energy. It should do the job, but what do you think, Sixer?”

Ford looked at the schematics and frowned in thought. He scratched his beard absentmindedly and his eyebrows raised suddenly in understanding. “This… this is ingenious!” He stood, bringing the schematics with him. It all made sense! This is what he was missing! “These ion focuser designs are pristine!” He looked to Star, his eyes bright. “Did you design this yourself?”

Star smiled but shook her head. “Nah, I had some help from a few friends. Teemo, for one.” She gestured to the lizard, who flicked their forked tongue out. “They’re an incredible engineer. One of the best I’ve ever seen.” Teemo jittered softly and jerked their head forward, a clawed hand making an odd motion towards Star. She giggled. “Oh, don’t be so modest!”

“I have to get to work on this immediately. It’s going to take days, weeks even! But with this design…” Ford grinned, sitting back down. “Kid, you are _brilliant_.”

“I know, but thanks.” Star tried to play it off but she looked secretly pleased at the compliment.

Ford layed it back out on the coffee table. “I’m going to need a lot of tools. Last time I had the help of… well, you could say an old friend, and we were able to get it done in a week even with all of the necessary tools.” He scanned his eyes over the blueprints again. “This design is far more complex. I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

Star nodded, smiling in determination. Gina put a hand on his shoulder. “Of course. We’re in this together.”

Ford looked to Star, hesitating momentarily before swallowing and speaking to her. “Thank you, Shooting Star.”

She waved a hand at him. “Ah, don’t worry about it.” She tried to brush it off, but she seemed genuinely happy. “I just want that isosceles bastard as dead as you do. I’d do anything for that to happen.”

Something dark flashed through her eyes and she rubbed at a deep scar on her collarbone that looked to be years old. Ford watched curiously before realizing that he was staring, and looked back down at the plans.

“Right.” He cleared his throat, bringing Star back from whatever road her mind had wandered down. Her hand dropped from her collarbone and landed in her lap. “Okay, so we’re going to need to leave by noon if we want to get to the hub by the time it opens tomorrow."

Ford stood and began pacing, his mind fixing up a plan. "Shooting Star and I will get the components for the new Quantum Destabilizer, along with the unicorn hair. Teemo and Gina will gather the ingredients for the trap and some much needed tools, along with enough food to last us all about a week. We'll meet back up here once we're finished."

Ford turned towards the three other people in the room. "Are we clear on the plan?"

"Get in, get the stuff, get out. Easy peasy." Star nodded. "Mission Impossible style, right? Ooh! We should get disguises! And fake names! I call the fake mustache!" She grinned and mimicked twirling a mustache. "I'll be Ursa! Sixer, you can be... Hal Forrester! Ooh, can we get you a fake eyepatch? You'd look so cool in an eyepatch."

Star grinned at him, but it slipped when she saw Ford giving her a glare. "Right. Okay. Serious time. Sorry.”

Ford huffed a little at the apology, and Gina raised a hand. "Okay, we get the goods and meet here. What if one of us gets into trouble?"

Ford hummed and thought for a moment. "If one of the teams doesn't come back within a few days, just continue with the plan. We'll hide the schematics and other needed information in the cabin somewhere, so we can keep going even if one of us fails." They all nodded tensely, all silently praying that it never comes to that.

"Alright!" Star stood suddenly, pumping her fist into the air. "Let's go team!"

Ford smiled at her enthusiasm, and nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is.... way longer than a normal chapter will be. but i couldnt find a good place to cut it. so here. enjoy this abnormally long chapter.

Before they left, they hid the schematics and other needed items under a loose floorboard, wrapped up in a waterproof bag so the snow wouldn't disturb it while they were gone. After they were surely hidden, Star had been adamant that she put ‘protections’ around the cabin.

Ford, while skeptical, waited for her to take a few minutes before they left. He stood outside on the porch while she finished up her little "rituals". Ford never had any issues with magic practitioners, he did know that magic was very much real in some dimensions, but he never was fond of the art.

After about ten minutes, Ford was ready to force Star to leave her runes behind. Teemo and Gina had already went ahead of them by an hour. This left Ford and Star, the former becoming more and more frustrated with the latter at her time management.

Ford huffed out an angry sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why in the multiverse was she taking so long? This was ridiculous. Ford didn't even know if this was a dimension capable of warding magic, and he was pretty sure that Star didn't know that either.

Ford almost went to pull Star out of the house before the door opened, and Star stepped out with a combat knife in hand and a smile on her face. She closed the door behind her, and Ford noted that her hair was tied back and her sweater was back on.

"Are you finished?" Ford grumbled, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. Star went to nod, but paused and turned back to the door. Ford almost groaned, thinking she was going back inside but became curious when she started carving something into the wooden door.

Ford watched over her shoulder as she worked, carving a circle in the door with her knife, before drawing several lines going through it. She then carved what looked to be alien characters that Ford didn't understand. After the last one, she stepped back. After almost being bumped into, Ford stepped back too and raised an eyebrow at the symbol. Star admired her work with her hands on her hips and small smile quirking on her lips.

"What am I looking at?" He asked, making Star glance at him with excitement.

"I'll show you!" She said before grabbing his hand and pulling him down the steps. He reluctantly let her guide him before snatching his hand away once they were in the snow.

Star turned back to face the cabin, her face set in concentration. She held out both hands, fingers turned down and palms facing out. She muttered something Ford didn't make out, and her eyes fluttered closed. There was a beat before the circle on the door began to make a fizzing sound, a warm light coming from it, and then it was gone.

In fact the whole cabin was gone. Nothing was left behind, it looked as if there wasn't ever a cabin there. Ford stood still in shock, his jaw hanging open. Star grinned and jogged back up to where the small cabin had been.

"Wait, Shooting Star! What- What did you do?!" Ford exclaimed, not in anger but in confusion. Star paused and looked back at him with a grin and stepped where the first step up to the porch would be. Instead of just stepping on the new snow, she vanished completely. Ford looked around wildly to where she went, before walking up to it himself.

He took a cautious step forward, looking around what was now a small clearing. It seemed like there was nothing there, not even an indent. Ford held out a hand as he moved towards it, reaching for the house that wasn't there. His hand touched something and he jumped, looking around before slowly reaching a hand out again. It bumped into the solid yet invisible mass again, and Ford grinned incredulously.

"It's... invisible?!" He called out, reaching his other hand onto what felt to be the railing around the deck. "How...?"

He heard a soft giggle and looked up to find Shooting Star standing right next to him. He gave a startled yelp and flinched away from her. She laughed again. "Oh man, I got you! That was hilarious!"

Ford shook his head, trying to feel some kind of annoyance towards the girl but finding nothing. Her smile was infectious, and he grinned back at her. "Yes, yes, you got me." He turned back to the solid air, his mind working a thousand miles an hour. "But how in the multiverse did you accomplish this? What kind of magic was that? Where did you find it?"

Star leaned against nothing and crossed her arms. "Oh, that was just a little spell I cooked up myself! Nothing too big."

"You created this?" He looked to her. "But- you're so young! This is incredible work!"

Star snorted. "If you think that making your own spell is anything to be proud of, you obviously don't know a lot about magic."

Ford rolled his eyes. "Perhaps not, but I do know some things about runes. This is impressive, especially since you're so young. How long have you been practicing?"

Star looked up for a second in thought. "Uh... four years, I think? Three and a half?"

Ford's eyes widened. "Four years? You made your own personal invisibility rune in four years?"

"Well, I guess when you put it like that, it sounds pretty impressive." Star grinned. She turned back to look at- or, well, try to look at- her work and looked back at Ford. "I did do a pretty good job, didn't I?"

Ford nodded, grinning at her. "This is incredible. You have a talent, Shooting Star."

Star seemed to blush under the praise but smiled at Ford. "Thanks." She took a deep breath, her exhale coming out in white vapor. "Let's get going! We don't wanna be late!"

The two walked in silence through the snowy, empty forest. It looked far different in the sunlight, with the rays glinting off the white powder almost blindingly. The desolate and dead trees no longer felt threatening and Ford felt safer knowing he could see his enemies coming now. There were flashes of animals running across the ground and into burrows occasionally, but it was pretty quiet overall.

"So," Star started, only ten minutes after they started walking. Ford gave her a glance of acknowledgment before she continued. "You're human?"

Ford paused his walking for a second. It took him a moment to answer, only because it seemed like an odd question. "Yes."

"Fully human? Like, 100% human lineage?"

"Yes."

Star hummed but didn't say anything after that. Ford eyed her in case she asked another question, but she didn't. They kept walking.

It was only two minutes before the silence was broken again, this time by Ford. "Are you?"

Star looked at him, searching his face for something but seemingly finding nothing of interest. She licked her lips before looking away and answering with a simple "Yes."

The silence that fell once again was not companiable anymore, but felt rather tense. Like they both wanted to ask about the other, or maybe tell a story, but ultimately deciding against it.

Ford himself had several questions for the girl. Some simple ones like- How old are you? What planet are you from? What was your original dimension?

He also had more difficult ones. Why do you want to hunt down Bill Cipher so badly? What's a teenager doing surviving on her own in the multiverse? How did you end up traveling the multiverse anyways? Do you have a family? Why do you call yourself Shooting Star?

Ford knew that if he asked her questions, she would ask him in return, and he was in no mood to retell his entire life story. So he refrained, and so did she, but there was still an awkwardness between them. Star fiddled with her sweater sleeves and at some point had picked up a stick and started whacking it against trees before becoming bored again. She sighed heavily and continued on, trailing behind Ford at a slower pace.

"Hey." She said finally, and Ford almost groaned. He did grimace,but she didn't see it. "So, this is a really super personal question so feel free to ignore me completely if you don't wanna answer but, uh," She hesitated enough for Ford to stop walking and look to her. She was pulling on her fingers, popping her knuckles. She looked up and took a deep breath before blurting out her question. "Doyouhaveanyfamily?"

Ford blinked owlishly at her. There was a pause between her question and Ford's reaction, which was him turning back around slowly and continue walking. He ignored the slightly disappointed sigh from Star, electing to just keep moving forward through the seemingly never ending forest.

She followed again, but he could feel her eyes on the back of his head. He scowled, his fists clenching and his steps becoming more like stomps. She was obviously still wanting an answer, which was mildly infuriating to Ford. Why tell him to ignore her if he didn't want to answer if she was just going to keep staring at him and hope for an answer?

Why didn't he answer her, anyways? It's not like she even knew his name. He'd never given her his full name, it wasn't like she could track down his entire backstory from a simple yes or no question. She was just a curious kid. He knew what it was like to be curious and not be given the answers you wanted.

Ford sighed and stopped again. Star stumbled back, narrowly avoiding bumping into him. He didn't look at her, but he heard her make a confused sound.

He exhaled through his nose. "Not anymore."

Star didn't follow him when he kept walking at first. Ford didn't know what her reaction was to the information, but he didn't want to know. He had no use for her sympathies or, worse, pity. It's not like it was her fault. He just wanted to move on and focus on the task at hand.

It was silent for the next few hours. They took a couple bathroom breaks, or just to rest their legs, but before they knew it the sun was already setting in the lavender sky, creating gorgeous rays of greens and yellows in the atmosphere.

Star had paused to look through the trees at the horizon, gasping in awe at the sunset. Ford halted when he noticed she wasn't following, but his eyes were drawn to the sunset as well. He'd already experienced this yesterday, right when the ship he hitchhiked on had dropped him off. He hadn't seen much, he was far too focused on getting to Gina in time, but now he could appreciate it.

"Wow." Star breathed, smiling softly. "I've been to this planet in this dimension before, but I never really noticed how pretty the sunset is."

Ford exhaled sharply in a small laugh. "Really?" Ford had been to a lot of places with different colored skies. The sunsets were always different and unique.

"Yeah. I'm from Earth, so I'm mostly used to the classic orange-y pinkish ones." Star said, not taking her eyes off of it. "I've seen a few different skies before, but never like this. It's beautiful."

Ford hummed in agreement. "I once went to a planet that had a completely red sky and a blue sunset."

"Woah, that sounds so cool!" She grinned at him and he returned a small smile.

"Yes, it was rather interesting. I wish I was able to enjoy it more, but I was caught up in a heisting scheme to steal the Queen's mercury deposits." He reminisced, watching the sky. He turned back to Star, who was holding her cheeks in both hands and looking at him with wide eyes.

"What?!" She gasped, grinning. "You can't just say that and not expect to tell the whole story!"

He smiled in amusement at her excitement over the tale. "It's... a bit of a long one. I don't know if you want to hear the whole thing." He hoped she did, because he missed telling stories that weren't just horrifying tales of his trauma.

"Hmm... Well, we should start setting up camp before nightfall..." Star smiled slyly, looking at Ford from the corner of her eyes. "You can tell me once we get a fire set up?" She phrased it as a question, and Ford huffed light-heartedly.

"Oh, alright. Let's get the camp set up first."

Star was able to gather branches from the trees that weren't completely soaked through with the use of the serrated edge of her combat knife, and Ford cleared up a circle of dirt from the snow before setting up his waterproof sleeping bag. Star started the fire and gasped in awe when it was a bright, almost neon red.

"This planet just keep getting better and better!" She laughed, sitting on her own sleeping bag and holding her hands out to warm them up.

"These specific trees must contain a lot of microscopic granules of lithium chloride! Fascinating. I wonder if there's other trees that may have different chemicals to produce a different color, perhaps sodium borate or even potassium chloride." Ford rambled, pulling a small, hand-bound journal from his bag and scribbling something down in it. "Or perhaps it's a result of the atmosphere difference? I'd have to run tests..."

He shut up when he heard a soft laugh from Star, and closed his journal with a snap. He raised an eyebrow at her, an embarrassed flush on his cheeks that couldn't be seen behind the pink from the cold. "I'm sorry, is something funny?"

Star shook her head and leaned forward, crossing her legs and resting her head on her palm. "Nah, it's just fun listening to you nerd-speak."

Ford scoffed, genuinely offended. "Excuse me? Nerd-speak?"

Star seemed to not pick up on his anger. "You know! Using all those big science words! Like lithium sorbet or whatever you said."

Ford crossed his arms. "Lithium chloride. It's what's making the fire red."

"Yeah. That." Star smiled, but it didn't meet her eyes. She looked from Ford to the fire, and gave a sad sigh. Ford's indignation fizzled out a little at her expression, wondering if he should say anything about it, but she beat him to it. "Hey, you're not trying to back out of telling that story, are you?"

Ford shook his head with a smile. "No, no, I'll tell it."

Star shifted in her seat slightly, getting comfortable before nodding at Ford. "Okay! Start from the beginning. I want all the juicy details."

Ford dove into the tale, starting off a little rough but with encouragement from Star he started getting into it. She would gasp at all the right moments, add in the perfect extra commentary or questions, and when the climax of the story hit she actually screamed in excitement. It made Ford smile until his cheeks hurt and laugh at Star's over-the-top reactions.

He found himself telling another at the insistence of Star, and then another. It wasn't until late, when the moon was out and both had had their fill of story telling did he pause and just breathe. He still smiled despite the ache in his cheeks as he watched Star add more fuel to the fire, listening to it crackle and feeling the biting cold even through his sleeping bag and extra blanket. Star let out a shudder and quickly retreated back into her own bag, shifting to get comfy.

She stared up at the stars as Ford still watched her, her eyes shifting around as if searching for something in the sky. She let out a sad, yet almost unperceivable sigh when she didn't find it, before turning her eyes to Ford. He looked away, not wanting to get caught staring at her.

There was a silence between them again. Ford frowned and rolled over, attempting to get some sleep when there was no point in keeping the conversation going.

He didn't get very far into that endeavor. "Hey, Sixer?"

Ford rolled over again to face the girl. "Yes, Shooting Star?"

There was a pause as Star pursed her lips, obviously building up the courage to say whatever she wanted to say. "Why didn't you ask me back?"

"Ask what back?" He shifted into a more comfortable position, still watching her. What was she talking about?

"Why didn't you ask me about my family?"

Ah. That's what it was about. "It's not my business."

Star winced, but Ford had meant no harm in those words. "Sorry for asking about it. I was just curious."

Ford sighed. "I... It's... alright, Shooting Star. Curiosity isn't a crime and no one should ever be punished for it."

Star didn't look happy with that answer but let it go. She took a deep breath and looked up at the sky, letting out an amused chuckle. "'Shooting Star' 's a bit long, isn't it? Why don't you call me something shorter?"

"What else should I call you?"

"I dunno. What about just 'Star'?"

Ford hummed. "Star. I suppose it's more efficient than using your whole name."

There was more silence after Star rolled over. Ford listened as her breathing evened out slowly, indicating she was asleep, before Ford let his eyes slip closed. Tomorrow they would set out again.

_____________________________________________________

Ford woke up before Star, blinking blearily at the blurry forest. He adjusted his glasses, which had fallen off his face in his sleep, and sat up. The sky was still dark, but the horizon held a hint of green and purples that indicated how early it was.

He glanced over at the sleeping girl. She was shivering in her sleep now that the fire was nothing but dark red embers, and the sun was still too low in the sky to make a difference in the cold temperature.

Ford stood, popping his aching back and breathing deeply. He gave himself a moment to stretch before walking off to gather more a little more wood for the fire.

It wasn't until the sun was shining on her face did Star wake up. She sat up immediately, taking a deep breath to muffle her yawn as she stretched. Ford was munching on a bland granola bar as he boiled water in a small pot over the fire and he gave a small wave to her when she squinted at him.

"G'morn." She mumbled and took out her hair tie, combing her fingers through her tangles. It seemed to be a morning ritual for her, it was almost automatic the way she did it.

"Good morning." Ford greeted in response. He pulled the boiling water off the fire and set it in the snow. The metal hissed and melted the snow around it, thick steam raising in the air, but seemed to slowly cool down. Star tied her hair back up and rubbed at her face with the inside of her sweater, wiping any dirt or sweat from it and coming out looking slightly-refreshed.

"We heading out?" She stood and stretched, rolling her shoulders and head and adjusting her wrinkled clothing.

"Soon." Was all he said, and she nodded.

Ford watched her do what looked like light yoga while he waited for his water to cool down enough. She seemed slightly shuddery still, but did a few jumping jacks and push ups to get her blood pumping. She mimed punching the air, seemingly dodging fake swings and giving her pretend opponent a mean left hook that vaguely reminded Ford of his brother.

That made him pause. How long had it been since he last thought of Stanley? Years, at the least. He could feel the heavy weight of the picture in his front pocket, now. He still missed him, even after what had happened between them. He couldn’t ever just stop loving his brother.

He watched Star practice her punches with a similar grin to Stan’s, her form and stature mimicking his brother’s. She looked like him, almost, when he was a teenager. Demonstrating his left hook to Ford, giving him that lopsided grin and telling him he’ll always watch his back. It made Ford smile a bit, the previous tainted bitterness of the memory now faded with time and distance. They really had been quite a pair.

Star stopped and gave Ford a confident grin. He shook himself from his thoughts and watched her pack up her sleeping bag. He poured the now cool water into his canteen, giving it an experimental sip and finding it acceptable.

He packed his own bag back onto his pack and hefted it onto his shoulders. Star finished her quick breakfast and wiped her hands onto her thick cargo pants and nodded at Ford, who quickly checked which direction to go and began walking, Star not too far behind.

"Hey." Star began, minutes into their journey. Ford waited for a continuation, but it seemingly never came.

"What?" He asked, and she shrugged. "What were you going to say?"

"I dunno. Just wanted to say something. I hate it when it's too quiet." Star scraped her boot against the snow, a small smile on her face.

"Hm." Ford looked back to her for a second. "What do you want to talk about, then?"

She shrugged again and groaned. "Ugh, I hate when I don't know what to say! Makes me feel all awkward and shit. I just wanna talk, I don't want it to be like yesterday but I don't want to force it either."

Ford chuckled gently. "I could ask you some non-invasive questions?"

Star hummed in thought. "Only if I can ask you the same non-invasive questions!"

Ford nodded. "Okay, you can ask questions about me, but only if I can ask the same about you."

"Deal. I'll go first." There was a moment as Star searched for a good first question. "Favorite color?"

Ford gave it some thought. "Red. What about you?"

"Definitely rainbow."

Ford raised an eyebrow. "How can your favorite color be rainbow? That's several colors, not one."

"No way! Rainbow is totally it's own color." Star crossed her arms. "That's my final answer, no changing it. Now it's your turn."

"How about... favorite food?"

"Oh my god, I had this fucking amazing dish in some other dimension, I can't even remember which, but it was like... tacos, but better in a way I can't even describe anything to have it again!" Star moaned at the thought of it, making Ford laugh. "Okay, now you tell me yours!"

"Pie. Any kind really, except sweet potato." Ford made a face that Star laughed at.

"Okay, my turn!"

The game of theirs continued for the better part of the hour. It started with trivial questions but delved deeper very quickly. Star began to ask weirder, more hypothetical questions.

"Okay, so you're in a sinking ship next to a deserted island. You can only grab one thing to bring with you to the island and it can't be a raft. What do you grab?"

"Hmm. I'd bring my laser gun. You?"

"I'd definitely grab my grappling hook!"

Ford turned to give her a weird look. "Your what?"

Star grinned and reached into her sweater, pulling a small gun with extra rope and a hook on the end out from a hidden pocket inside. "GRAPPLING HOOK!" She yelled and shot it straight into the air, catching it on a tree branch and yelping when she was pulled up. Ford just stared in amusement and bewilderment as she struggled to get down.

"What would you do if you met a real, living and breathing dinosaur?" Ford had offhandedly asked. He couldn't really come up with any good questions like Star, so he just asked what he wanted to be asked.

"Pfft, dude, I already have!" Star laughed, and her answer made Ford pause and look at her. "I had to save my pet pig from being eaten by one when I was twelve!"

Ford squinted at her, frowning. "You're joking, right?"

She shook her head. "Nope! I'm 100% serious! A big ol' p-terodactyl stole my pig that I named Waddles, and I had to track him down. I even watched one hatch from an egg right in front of me!"

Ford's eyes widened in disbelief. "Really? A pterodactyl? What dimension was this in?"

Star's smile dimmed. "I, uh. I don't know. Can't remember, it's been so long, y'know?" She laughed almost nervously.

Ford knew there was something else behind it, but dropped it. "That's fascinating! What happened to your pig?"

"I got him back. No way was I gonna let some p-terodactyl turn him into it's dinner!"

"Actually, it's pterodactyl." Ford corrected out of habit, and Star laughed.

"You sound like-!" She said, but quickly slapped a hand over her mouth and silenced herself.

Ford stopped and stared at her, her eyes were wide. It was like even she was shocked by what she almost said. Ford opened his mouth to ask what she was going to say, but she quickly kept walking forward, now leading the charge without a word. Ford followed close behind, not saying a word but watching Star intently.

"...Star?" Ford questioned hesitantly, not wanting to push it but really not wanting to drop it completely like that.

Star stopped suddenly and Ford could clearly see that her shoulders were trembling ever so slightly. "I-" She swallowed thickly, and took a deep breath. "Just… forget I said anything.”

Ford didn't say anything, he just nodded. After a moment, Star continued walking.

The silence continued until they hit the tree line of the forest. Ford sighed a heavy breath of relief for getting out of the forest finally, and Star seemed to relax significantly.

There was a hill in front of them, and Ford knew that behind it was a small city with a small Interdimensional Hub. It wouldn't be anything like the larger Hubs in more busy places in the multiverse, but it should have the things they needed.

They climbed the hill together, Star groaning once they reached the top. She rolled her shoulders back and looked down at the small city. It was barely a city, more like a large town. In the center of it all was a large street filled with hundreds of vendors and merchants that had set up shop. On the other side of the town was a large parking lot with several ships sitting in it. The whole thing was mostly covered up by tarps and snow. Ford could see hundreds of people moving around and began to move his scarf over the lower half of his face out of instinct. Out of all those people, how many would recognize him from his wanted posters? He didn't know and didn't care to find out.

Star saw him covering his face and moved to do the same. She pulled a silk scarf from her bag and wrapped it around her lower face and head, leaving her eyes open. Ford put his goggles over his eyes and pulled his hood over his head. He glanced at Star and nodded before slowly making his way down the hill.

The Hub was loud, they always were. It wasn't as busy as others, but the people pushed and shoved through the crowd all the same. Always moving, never stopping until the shops closed, but even then there were always a few shops open when the sun went down. Hubs were dangerous at night, muggers and thieves always slinking in the shadows and bounty hunters looking for their next paycheck. It was easier to blend in with a crowd, and at night there wasn't much of one.

Star kept close to Ford, pressing her arm against his and grasping onto his sleeve so as not to be swept away as Ford expertly made his was through the sea of bodies. None of the people looked human, all of them aliens. Ford was used to it, Star was the only fully human being he had met in a long time. Star seemed slightly unnerved, but that was to be expected for being so young.

Star muttered directions in his ear to find her "friend" and he weaved through everyone. Star seemed to spot the person she was looking for not too long after they arrived, discreetly jerking her head towards the merchant. Ford nodded and made his way over.

Ford didn't know what race he was, but that wasn't too surprising. He had blue skin and large, bug-like eyes that seemed to move every which way. His hands shook as he grasped them together, his large head almost swaying in the breeze because of his scrawny neck and body. His fingers were long and boney, ending in sharp points. He had only three on each hand, as well. He wore a colorful Hawai'ian print button up over a ratty and stained white tank top.

The large eyes felt unsettling to Ford, but he shoved the feeling away and allowed Star to do the talking. She approached him casually, her gaze soft and unassuming.

"Terry." She said, and his large eyes focused entirely on her.

"A-Ah! Hell-Hello!" Terry greeted, waving a shaky hand. He didn't seem to recognize her yet, but gasped softly when Star pulled the scarf away from her face. "O-Oh! Sh- Shooting Star!"

"Shut up!" She hissed, bringing her scarf back up. Ford glanced around to see if anyone had noticed the name slip, but no one was watching. He turned back to Star and shook his head. She sigh sharply and turned back to the bug-eyed man. "Don't use my name. I can't risk any bounty hunters this time."

"So- So Sorry!" Terry nodded,holding up both hands. "My- My apol- apologies, Miss!"

"It's fine, just don't do it again." Star grumbled, and made a head motion to Ford. He turned around and watched around the street, looking for anything that could be suspicious. Star took a deep breath and clenched her jaw. "Listen, Terry, I need to cash in on that favor you owe me."

Terry's eyes slowly squinted. "What favor?" He spoke clearly without stutter this time, and his entire body tensed up.

"From when I saved your ass from the Collector? Remember that, Terry?" Star's voice was low and rough, nothing like her bubbly self. Her entire body language was threatening, her hand resting on her hip and the other leaning against the booth counter. "Or should I remind you?"

Terry crossed his arms and they stared at each other for a long time. Star tapped her fingers on the table impatiently, not even blinking as she glared right into Terry's oversized eyes. "Well?" She prompted in an almost growl.

Terry blinked and lowered his arms. "Fine. Tell me what you need." He spat, his expression dark.

"Unicorn hair."

Terry wiped a hand down his face, grumbling something under his breath. "Fine. Fine! Dear Axolotl, you do not make things easy for me."

"How long?" Star asked. leaning forward.

"Gimme... 3 hours tops." Ford almost wanted to scoff. There was no way he was going to get unicorn hair in only three hours. He was half-tempted to say as much, but knew Star would just insist that it would happen, so he started thinking on what components he needed for the second Quantum Destabilizer.

"Thanks, Terry!" Star smiled brightly, but it was filled with nothing but threats of bodily harm. "Don't disappoint me!"

Ford actually shuddered at the way she said those last three words. How could a teenage girl from Earth seem so threatening?

Star grabbed his hand and pulled him away before quickly letting him take the lead. "Where next? We've got time to kill."

Ford thought for a moment as he aimlessly worked his way through the crowd. "Let's get some scrap metal and wiring first. That should be the more common items." Ford brought his communicator out of his jacket and checked his credits. He hummed, his brow furrowing. "I don't know if I have enough for everything."

Star looked over his shoulder and hummed in agreement. "Probably. Good thing I have some credits in an account still, even if I lost my comms in a Rangian Street Poker game."

Ford glanced at her for a second. "Why in the multiverse would you bet on your comms? Better question, why would you ever play Rangian Street Poker?"

Star shrugged noncommittally. "Sounded fun. I didn't know any of the rules, but I learned along the way. It's way easier than it looks!" She grinned smugly. "Plus, I only bet my comms. Not my thumbprint. I won before they could get that."

"You won?" Ford scoffed in disbelief. "You, a human teenager, won at Rangian Street poker?"

"Fuck yeah, I did! Did you know that counting cards also works for that? I sure didn't, not until I tried it." Star was giggling now, and Ford smiled under his scarf and shook his head. "I learned how to count cards from the best, too! He was a master con man. I learned all I know about cheating and other mostly illegal tricks from him."

Ford laughed quietly at that, but he felt weirdly... proud of her for winning at Rangian street poker. He'd tried it before in a casual setting, nothing important being bet, just a game with some friends and even he found it extremely difficult to keep up with and grueling to play. Yet Star had won at it? Yes, sure, she had cheated, but she'd won a real game of Rangian street poker. That was an incredible feat.

Ford dragged the pair of them through the streets, stopping at a couple vendors here and there. His pack was starting to weigh heavier and heavier with more tools and parts for the gun. Star eventually offered up her own pack, which was somewhat smaller than Ford's, and eventually it got weighed down, too.

After two hours of shopping and dragging around hunks of alien metal, they stopped for lunch. Star paid this time, just giving them the identification number of her bank and smiling smugly when they reacted to the absurd amount in her account. Ford stared at her with an unseen eyebrow raised in question and she shrugged, as she always did.

"Where did you get so many credits?" Ford asked when they sat down on a nearby bench to eat their weird space food.

"Oh you know... just some odd jobs here and there." Her eyes crinkled in what Ford recognized was a smile, glinting with mischief. "May or may not have been legal."

Ford laughed. "You are full of surprises, kid."

Star pulled down her face cover to eat and Ford copied her, constantly looking around for anyone who might recognize them. They had discreetly torn down every wanted poster they spotted for each other, Ford hoping that Star didn't find out his real name. Star's real name wasn't on any of her posters, but her picture looked as if it was taken yesterday. It might've been, for all Ford knew.

They finished quickly and left quicker. They made their way back to Terry's shop. They waited for his last customer to leave before approaching, and his fake nervousness dropped instantly when he saw them. Star didn't have to say anything to him, she just held out her hand to him.

"Gimme a minute, I gotta get it from the shipment that just came in." Terry hissed, walking behind a curtain that led to a back room. They waited for a couple minutes, Ford watching out and Star just tapping her fingers against the wood again. Ford rolled his eyes.

"He's not going to have it, you know." Ford reminded her, and he could feel Star rolling her eyes. She said nothing to him, just kept tapping against the wood.

Terry returned shortly, a black faux-velvet bag in his hand. He just handed it over to Star, who grinned and snatched it up. She didn't bother to look inside, she just handed the small drawstring bag over to Ford. "You were saying, Sixer?"

Ford scoffed and opened it, expecting to see normal horse hair dyed to look like unicorn hair, but froze when he saw it. It was sparkling even in the limited light it was getting, an every which way it turned it looked like a different color.

"Holy fucking shit." Ford muttered, and Star radiated smugness.

"You're lucky we didn't bet on it, or you would be groveling at my feet right now." Star laughed. She turned to Terry, who looked upset that Star was still standing in front of him. "We're square, Terry."

"We better be! Getting that cost me a whole shipment of plumbuses!" He said hotly. "Now get lost, I don't want you attracting trouble again!"

Star nodded and took the bag from Ford before tying it up again and placing inside her sweater. "Safest place for it." She told him before holding onto his coat again as they made their way through the crowd.

They walked in relative silence, with the bustle and chattering of the Hub acting as nice background noise. Ford let himself move with the crowd, feeling the tug on his trenchcoat that notified him that Star was still keeping close. They weren't in too much of a hurry to leave, it was still only about midday, but Ford would prefer them to get out sooner rather than later in order to avoid recognition.

Star tugged on his coat tightly, and he spared and small glance to see what was wrong. Her eyes were attempting to signal behind her without her actually turning her head. They were being followed.

Ford could feel the eyes on them now. He turned a corner, not wanting to alert their followers that they knew but also wanting to catch a glimpse of them. He turned his head for only a split second to watch for anyone looking at him and his eyes caught on two beings.

They both had the same armor, the same outfit. Partners, probably. Their black, beady eyes were glued on the two bounties in front of them. Both of them had weapons on their waists and tall, spindly limbs but rounded bodies.

"Bounty hunters." Ford muttered, almost inaudibly, and he felt Star tug in acknowledgement. They continued down the street at the same pace, not yet wanting to alert that they knew. They had to come up with a plan, and fast.

"Should we just run for it?" Star whispered, and Ford shook his head.

"No, we don't want to risk being followed back to the safehouse. We need to lose them here."

They wandered aimlessly, turning every which way, trying to shake the hunters. Every turn Ford tried to catch another glimpse to see if they had lost them yet, but saw them trailing behind every time. "Damn." He whispered. "We might need to create a distraction."

Star nodded. "Leave it to me."

Ford felt the hand on his jacket leave and he turned suddenly. Star was gone, nowhere to be seen. "Star? Star!" He called out, not catching a glimpse of her anywhere. "Fuck!" He hissed and kept moving, not bothering to stop in case the hunter caught up to him. If Star wanted to get herself shot or captured, then she could be his damn guest.

Only problem, she was the one with the unicorn hair. Ford groaned and slowed, ducking underneath the crowd and waiting for Star's distraction.

It took only a few minutes for Ford to hear the definite sound of a gun going off, followed by screaming, followed by a very familiar voice yelling above the crowd.

"THIS IS A ROBBERY, GET THE FUCK ON THE GROUND!"

_Sweet Moses, this girl was trying to get them killed._

Ford made his way towards the thing everyone was running away screaming from, hiding behind signs and running through alleys. He ran into Star, who looked breathless with a huge grin on her face. "I made a distraction!" She said a tad too loudly, and Ford groaned but said nothing as he grabbed her hand and moved to leave the alley.

He took a single step out before some hard and cold hit the back of his head, and suddenly he was on the ground.

"GET THE GIRL!"

His ears rang and he groaned, the world spinning around him. There were black spots in his vision and he tried to force his body to move, to get up and run, but his arms wouldn't cooperate. He heard a scream, then a gunshot that made him almost whimper in pain.

"SHE'S GETTING AWAY!"

Who was yelling so close to him? He couldn't make anything out, only his own heart hammering in his chest and the pain blossoming and throbbing in the back of his head. The world was fading away quickly and the only thing on his mind was _I need to run._

He tried to sit up again, only to hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gaykravitz.tumblr.com  
> ofstarsandsixers.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for blood and wounds

The first thing Ford was aware of was the chains around his hands.

They jingled softly as he attempted to shift around. Every movement was more pain, but he grit his teeth tightly and forced his eyes open. The bright light burned and he could feel a ringing in his ears. He shook his head gently, groaning as he shakily pushed himself up from the cold ground.

The pain coming from the back of his skull made him grunt and screw his eyes closed. Fuck, it hurt. He felt like he got hit by a truck going light speed.

He forced himself to at least roll onto his back, his chest heaving and sweat dripping down his temple. He blinked quickly, trying to get his eyes adjusted as quickly as possible before attempting to sit up again.

Ford let himself breathe for just a moment, trying to remember what had happened.

Star, bounty hunters, distraction, pain.

It all felt fuzzy, and the nausea sure wasn't helping either. Maybe he shouldn't have eaten lunch, at least then we wouldn't have to worry about losing it immediately after.

Was it even immediately after? Ford squinted at the blurry ceiling, realizing he didn't have his glasses. He sighed and slowly sat up, letting his body adjust to the movement before trying to make out the room he was in.

It was a cage, that much was obvious. The grey bars, even if they were fuzzy, made it easily recognizable. Good. Great. A cage.

The room looked sturdy enough, with no shaky foundation or hum of an engine, which ruled out him being in any kind of vehicle. Was he even in the same dimension, though? Ford had no idea. He couldn't even tell what pattern the wallpaper was. Was it even wallpaper?

Ford groaned in frustration. Okay, so he was blind as a 90 year old man with cataracts who was raised by bats, but he could still fight once they eventually had to get him out of the cage. He just had to be patient.

He hoped that Star hadn't been captured. She was small enough and quick enough to escape and get the unicorn hair back to the safe house to wait for him. He hoped that that's what she was doing.

He heard a door open and turned his head towards the sound, squinting at the figure that had appeared.

"Stanford Pines."

Ford squinted, both in an attempt to actually see who was talking to him and to intimidate them. Neither seemed to work.

"You have quite the bounty on your head, it seems. Cipher wants you dead or alive, so count yourself lucky that we spared your life."

Ford said nothing, just glared at the figure.

"Hmph. Be that way, then. We'll be taking you to Cipher soon enough, Pines."

Ford tried to watch them leave and sighed when the door closed again. He leaned back against the single solid wall, his chains jingling. Great. He was hoping that it wasn't one of Bill's bounty hunters, but once again, he hoped wrong.

The throbbing in Ford's head calmed slightly as time passed, but Ford's restlessness grew. He was never one for waiting, always wanting to just go and seize any opportunity he had. This was maddening to him. He could do nothing without being able to see or being in these chains.

He just had to wait.

\----------------------

It was quiet for a very long time.

Waiting, Ford realized, was torture.

Ford wasn't even sure an hour had passed since he first woke up, and it infuriated him. He wasn't good with time, always getting lost in his projects and what not, but now that he didn't have anything to pass the time with it felt like absolute torture.

His mind was used to being constantly busy, always working and thinking and solving but now? He tried to create and solve math equations in his head, but got bored rather quickly. He tried to recite the numbers of pi, but lost track at around 92. He considered slamming his head against the wall at some point but decided against it after a particularly sharp pain that shot through his head.

Ford was about to give up and succumb to his nightmares again when he heard a shout, followed by a distant thud. That was followed by several gunshots that had Ford quickly getting his feet and grasping the bars tightly. What was going on out there?

There was more indistinct yelling that had Ford on edge. He could only catch little bits among the sounds of fighting that echoed down whatever halls were out there.

“-took down-“

“-kid-“

“-ting Star!”

Ford felt a surge of hope at what he heard before the gunshots and sounds of fists hitting flesh got closer. Had Star come back for him? There was no way she could take on all those hunters on her own! There had to be a dozen at the very least, Ford had experience with these kinds of warehouses. He’s had to fight his own way out of who knows how many, there’s no way Star was going to be able to do this.

He waited with baited breath as the fighting sounds slowly faded out. There was one last single gunshot that sounded as if it was right outside his room, followed by a heavy thud. He heard silence after that and clenched his hands around the bars, his throat tightening. Had she…?

There was movement on the other side of the door, followed by a click of a lock and the door finally swung open. It slammed against the other wall and the figure entering the room fell to their knees and heaved, groaning in pain.

“Star?” Ford asked, almost whispering, squinting at the figure of purple, brown, and red.

“Hah.” The figure breathed out a single laugh, and stood shakily, leaning heavily against the nearby wall. “Surprised you recognized me without these.”

Ford felt something hit his face and fumbled with it for a second before getting a firm grasp. It was his glasses, the crack on the side bigger but still not too obscuring. He slipped them on quickly and blinked at the adjustment. He grinned and looked up at Star, but his joy fell immediately when he saw her.

Her sweater was soaked with blood and her hands were both pressed tightly on her left side. Her breathing was labored and stuttery, and she was slowly falling down the wall she was leaning on. Both of her eyes were screwed shut but when she heard his soft, surprised gasp, she opened one to look at him. “Don’t worry about me yet, Sixer. We- We need to get you out first.”

She tossed him a ring of keys that he deftly grabbed from the air and made quick work on the lock on his chains. He silently thanked the bounty hunters for the use of almost archaic holding technology that they were dealing with. He got out of the cage and knelt down next to Star.

“Shit.” Star muttered, giving him something that could be a glare if she didn’t look so miserable. “I thought I just said not to worry. Must be hallucinating.”

Ford said nothing and just furrowed his brows as he gently moved her bloody hands away from the wound. She complied and let him get a glimpse. It didn’t look good, the large laceration was still leaking blood like it wasn’t just a flesh wound. It looked as if the blade was only centimeters from gutting her. Ford sucked in a startled gasp through his gritted teeth and Star let out another out of breath laugh.

“Tell me, doc, how long do I have?” She tried to smile but gasped tightly instead when Ford replaced her hands with his own. Star gripped his sleeve with white knuckles, a quiet whimper coming out of her. It was followed by a hiss and a shudder as he started applying more pressure. “Fucking _fuck_ ! _Ow_.” She grunted and let her head fall back against the wall, her eyes screwing shut again as she tried to focus on deep breathing.

“We need to get a makeshift bandage to help staunch the blood flow.” He told her, and looked around as if one would magically appear. He paused, running the hand not currently pressing against her wound through his hair. He looked down at himself and at Star, whose breathing started becoming more shallow, and something caught his eye.

Ford quickly removed his scarf and began wrapping it around Star’s abdomen, working through her small whimpers and sudden jerks until he could tie the shoddy bandage securely around her abdomen. Star let out a breath of relief, shifting slightly and keeping one hand pressed against her side still. “You’re going to be alright, Star. We have to get going.”

Ford moved to hoist her up, but she held up a hand. “Wai- Wait. Your-“ She grunted as she slowly stood on her own, using the wall as leverage. “Your shit. In the corner.”

He turned and looked where she was pointing and sure enough, all his stuff was sitting on a table in the corner of the room. It had been rifled through and dissected into piles of what the hunters deemed valuable and what they saw as garbage. He very swiftly gathered everything back up but left his laser pistol in his left hand as he helped Star away from the wall. She leaned practically all of her weight onto him, and they stumbled slightly but Ford helped her walk her way out of the room and down the hall.

“Turn left up here.” She muttered, and Ford obeyed.

He tried very hard not to trip over the either dead or unconscious bodies that occasionally showed up on their way out. He saw other unmarked doors to other holding cells but ignored them, opting to instead just get out as fast as he could. The other people being kept here were probably fully capable of getting themselves out. He didn’t have time for them.

Star stopped directing him at some point but he quickly found the exit, stepping over the blood puddles surrounding the two guards that now lay dead. He burst out, finding himself in an abandoned-looking warehouse district that he saw was in the town from the view on the hill. There were small snowflakes falling, catching the moonlight and looking like glitter in the air.

“Stay with me, Star.” Ford told her, giving her a small squeeze. She squeezed back weakly in response, indicating that she was still conscious. “Do not fall asleep. I very much need you to stay awake.”

She nodded numbly and took some of her weight off him, stepping in time with him as he got them out of the town. It was going to be a long walk back, far longer than the walk there.

Ford had to drag Star up and over the large hill, helping her stumble into the woods. He tried talking to her, trying to get responses out of her to keep her awake. She seemed confused, her speech coming out in indistinguishable sounds and half-word answers, but she seemed conscious. The bleeding had slowed immensely, he noted as he felt around the wound gently when they took a short break only an hour after entering.

Ford wracked his brain for questions and stories to tell her, desperate for her not to fall asleep in the snow when she had already lost so much blood. That was a recipe for disaster, he wasn’t even sure that she was feeling the cold at that point.

So he talked to her, pausing for her to answer or grunt in acknowledgment every few seconds. She spiraled from saying words to just noises as they walked. They took a sitting break every hour, which soon turned into every half hour, and soon every ten minutes. Ford noticed they passed their old camp and felt relief, they were so close.

“Gina was trained in medicine.” He told Star, who hummed back. “She can help. She’d patched me up a couple times before, when we first met. I was always getting into more trouble than strictly necessary back then.” Star gave a single, weak laugh, still attempting to trudge through the snow on her own despite the fact that Ford was basically holding her up entirely.

She then groaned and pulled away, giving him the sign to stop. He did and helped her down on a nearby stump, letting her catch her breath while he scanned the area for any danger. There was a single lizard that scurried back into it’s snow den when Ford met it’s eyes.

“Okay.” Star mumbled, almost twenty minutes later. “Les’ go.”

“Star, where’d you live on Earth?” He asked, helping her back to her feet from sitting on a log and moving her arm over his shoulder. Star mumbled something Ford couldn’t make out but seemed to pause in her answer as she began walking with him towards the east. “Star?”

“California.” She said, and Ford swallowed down his anxiety. “In- In San... San Francisco.”

“San Francisco, huh?” He attempted to prompt her to continue, but she didn’t. “Can’t say I’d ever been, but it seemed like a nice place.”

“ ‘S alright.” Star mumbled, her grip on him nonexistent. “Liked Gravity Falls more.”

Ford choked on his breath and almost tripped himself when he heard her. “...What? What did you just say?” Panic and paranoia rose in his chest, his grip on her loosening.

Star didn’t answer him. In fact, her entire body suddenly went limp and she fell face-first into the snow. Ford yelled out, quickly picking her up and brushing the ice off of her face. “Star? Star! Don’t do this!” He shook her gently and held her face in one hand while the other supported her weight. “Dammit, come on, Star! Not now!”

She didn’t respond. He quickly brought his fingers to an artery in her neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there, but just barely. It was so fast, yet so weak. He felt her wound and realized it had started bleeding more since he last checked.

Ford grit his teeth and held back a frustrated and anxious scream. He worked quickly, pulling her bag off of her and layering it over his own before pulling the teen into his arms. With one arm supporting her neck and the other under her knees, Ford adjusted his grip only slightly and _sprinted_ eastward.

He had to get back to the cabin and fast. He didn’t have any first aid on him besides small latex band-aids and a shot-sized bottle of grain alcohol, and he definitely didn’t have any suturing supplies or blood transfusions.

Ford didn’t stop running until he was close to collapsing. His lungs burned and his limbs screamed in pain but even when he wasn’t running, he was power walking to the east, desperate to get back to the cabin before Star’s pulse went away completely. His chest heaved with each breath he took but he didn’t stop moving. Not for a second. He could hear Star whimper in her unconsciousness, each one quieter than the last, and it just drove him to move faster.

He spared a glance to the sky, checking the time every few minutes. The sun was rising slowly in the horizon, the other two must have been expecting them to get back hours ago. If he could have lost the bounty hunters faster, then Star would-

He shook his head and increased his pace, ignoring his protesting legs and hammering heart. He was getting too damn old for this, and the what-ifs going through his head were definitely not helping the situation at hand.

When Ford spotted the familiar clearing in the distance, he almost collapsed in relief. He could feel Star’s shallow and quick breaths against chest, she was still kicking. He sprinted as fast as he could the rest of the way. He didn’t bother trying to feel his way around the invisible cabin at first, he just sprinted up the stairs and slammed open the door once it was visible to him past the threshold.

Gina and Teemo both jumped out of their seats as he fell to his knees, his lungs gasping for air it felt like he couldn’t get and his arms shaking from holding Star for so long.

There was a second’s hesitation before Gina and Teemo took Star from him, dragging her to the couch. Ford fell onto the ground fully, trying desperately to catch his breath as he watched Teemo rush around and gather first aid while Gina quickly removed Star’s clothing. Ford let his eyes fall closed as his body rested and his heart rate slowed.

He heard Gina bleat nervously and Teemo make a chittering noise as they worked. The world started blurring into a mass of colors and muffled noises as Ford stayed laying face down on the wooden floor. Desperately fighting to stay conscious, Ford tried to push himself up with a shuddering gasp. He needed to make sure Star was okay, he needed to help her.

His forearms shook under his weight and burned from overexertion, but he grit his teeth and moved his legs up. He could hear Gina say something, and then a pained cry from Star. He jolted his head up and dizzily watched his friend pour a liquid onto Star. It made her jolt and thrash in her unconsciousness and Ford grimaced when he caught sight of her pained expression.

He slowly crawled backwards and slumped against the wooden wall of the cabin. Pressing a hand to his chest, he willed his breathing to even out and his heart to slow. He couldn’t move from that spot, he could only watch as Gina began suturing the laceration closed, with Teemo pressing a clawed hand to Star’s forehead.

It felt like hours. Each passing second was a second too long. Star jerked and twitched, making an occasional whimper or cry of agony that Teemo quickly soothed away with their gentle petting. Gina wiped at her forehead with the back of her arm and continued, quickly yet expertly stitching the wound up.

It felt like a century but it was only minutes after Gina began did she drop the bloody needle into a metal bowl and wipe her shaking hands of the crimson. Teemo quickly took over on dressing the stitches and administering whatever helpful medicines they possessed, making their odd chattering as they worked.

Ford swallowed, clearing his scratchy and dry throat. “Is- Is Star-“ He could barely speak, something nasty twisting in his gut at the sight of all the blood covering Gina’s front. The satyr looked at him, her eyes wide and a shaky smile on her face.

“I- I think she’s going to be okay.” Gina whispered and Ford felt almost all the tension in his body leave. “She lost a lot of blood. Probably close to a liter and a half, probably more.” Ford’s face went pale at the estimation and he raised a hand to cover his mouth. “The cold didn’t help her case, neither did the exhaustion, but she should be fine. She’s not out of the ballpark yet, but we have enough medicine to help her.”

Ford sighed in relief and let himself go slack against the wall. “Gina, you are quite literally a _lifesaver_. Thank you.” He whispered back, letting his eyes shut. “I’m getting too old for this.”

Gina nodded silently and moved to sit next to him, her hooves crossing over each other. She leaned against him, and he leaned back against her too. He felt the trembling in his muscles lessen slowly and his breathing even out. They were safe. They were alive. Star would not be dying today.

He glanced over to the girl. Teemo had placed several blankets over her after they dressed the wound correctly, the lizard now busying themselves with starting a fire. Star's breathing seemed labored and shallow, but it was even. Whatever medicine Teemo had given her seemed to react immediately and helped stabilize her condition.

Now that Ford looked her over, really looked at her, he was acutely aware of exactly how young she was. She couldn't be a day over 17, he realized. A child compared to him. Her slightly chubby cheeks were sickly pale, her entire face was still and relaxed. There would be a twitch of her eyebrow, or a movement behind her eyelids, but it was so quick that it had been barely noticeable.

If Ford didn't see that, or the rising and lowering of her chest, he would’ve assumed she was dead.

She almost could've been. This young girl, barely even a woman, could have- _would have_ bled out in the woods if he hadn’t been as fast. How long had she been doing this? Star had seen almost disturbingly calm during the ordeal, so how many times had she passed out from blood loss? The scars that Ford had gotten glimpses of spoke for her. It made Ford's stomach twist uncomfortably.

Somehow, a teenage girl from California had ended up running through the multiverse and getting into far too many life threatening situations. She was wanted by several different governments and even Bill Cipher himself. No one seemed to know her real name, it never said it on her wanted posters. She probably was barely over a quarter of his entire age. She should be going to school and having a normal, human, Earth life without the introduction of demons or interdimensional travel or near death encounters.

"You're really worried about her, huh?" Gina took him out of his thoughts, her head resting on his shoulder. He looked at the satyr, a small frown on his face. He didn't want to answer. "What happened?"

Ford sighed through his nose and adjusted his glasses. "Bounty hunters. Star tried to create a distraction so we could get away, but I got captured. Woke up in a cage." He paused and shifted, his eyes moving back over to the sleeping teenager. "She came after me. Took down an entire group of Cipher's personal hunters by herself." Gina actually looked completely shocked at that.

"Really? An entire squad?"

Ford nodded. "All of them dead or out cold. I don't know how she got hurt like that, but she showed up covered in blood. I tried to stop the bleeding but…" He sighed again and wiped at his sweaty brow. “Not good enough. She passed out while we were walking and I just… panicked.”

Gina quirked a smile. "Stanford, you've gone soft on me."

Ford laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yes, I suppose I have."

"She's so young." Gina muttered after several minutes, mostly to herself. "How did this happen?"

Ford didn't respond to her. He didn't know how to. He let his head fall onto Gina's, shifting ever so slightly so her horns weren't poking him. He listened to the crackling, dark red fire and the soft breathing coming from his friend. He just let himself close his eyes while Teemo hovered over Star worriedly. He almost wanted to be the one closest to her, so he could watch over her and make sure she made it through the night at least.

He smirked and felt himself start to slip into sleep. He really was going soft. Just four years ago he would've rather been dead than trust anyone else like this. Friendships were burdens, he had to kill Bill Cipher by himself. He had the face of the man who would destroy him, after all.

Star had a point, though. He would've never gotten away if she wasn't with him, and she would've never made it out alive without him.

Being alone was a stupid idea.

________________________________

Star didn't wake up the next morning.

It was to be expected, really. She lost far too much blood and without a transfusion, she would need rest and a lot of fluids and medicine to build her plasma and red blood cell levels back up. She needed to heal, so her body put her in a small coma. It was normal and completely healthy.

Yet Ford, despite knowing all of this and having had experienced it himself first hand, was still worried.

He gave her water in her small moments of wakefulness, even if she was always completely out of it. He spent most of his time sitting on the floor next to the couch she slept on, fiddling with circuitry and mechanisms for the Quantum Destabilizer that Star had designed. Teemo helped him with the circuitry while Gina helped more with the shaping and welding of the frame.

In whatever spare time he had, Ford would also research and write down how to create the specialized devil trap. Star was going to be taking care of that part once she regained consciousness. For now, he worked on the gun part of the plan to take down Bill.

It was early morning, two days after they had started work, when Star seemed to actually wake.

Ford was the only one awake when she stirred. He looked up from his work and stared at her for a second, unsure if she was just moving in her sleep or waking up.

"Sixer...?" She groaned, and Ford got to his feet. She was blinking up at the ceiling, her brows drawn tightly together.

"I'm here, what do you need?" He asked like he always did when she came in and out of consciousness.

She didn't say anything and just reached a hand up to rub at her eyes. She turned her head slowly and squinted at Ford before moving her gaze to the cabin. "Oh man... how long was I out for?"

Ford glanced outside the window, thinking back. "Couple days, I believe."

Star gasped and jerked up suddenly in an attempt to sit up, but cried out in pain. Ford quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to lay back down firmly. She grunted and let herself fall back onto her pillow, wincing as Ford lifted the hem of her shirt to check if she had messed up her stitches. The bandage stayed clean, and he sighed.

"You need to lay still. Don't aggravate your wound any further." Ford told her.

"But- the unicorn hair-!" She seemed frantic, and Ford held up his hand to quiet her.

"We have everything we need. The unicorn hair is safe." He assured her, and she seemed to relax.

"Good. That's… that’s great." She sighed heavily. "Okay, tell me for real... how bad is the damage?"

"You lost almost two liters of blood, and whatever cut you open like that was only a few centimeters from cutting directly into your abdominal cavity and doing more damage than we could fix. You have severe muscle damage to the area and it's going to take weeks for you to heal completely." Ford explained quickly, but the longer he spoke the more confused Star seemed to get.

She blinked at him a couple times when he was finished. "So I got fucked up real bad?"

Ford pinched the bridge of his nose and help back a sigh. "Yes. You got really fucked up."

Star hummed and shrugged. "Ah well, I'll bounce back in a couple days."

Ford stared incredulously. "Excuse me? You can't just bounce back from a wound like yours in just a few days! You have deep, intramuscular tissue damage that's going to take weeks to-"

"Oh hush up, this has happened to me way more times that I can even remember! I know my body. Give me a couple days, some pain killers, and I'll be fine." Star rolled her eyes and Ford just stared in absolute wonder at how goddamn stubborn this kid was.

"Just how often does this happen to you?" Ford whispered, frustrated and concerned. "You were moments away from death. If I hadn't acted as quickly as I did, you would have died."

"It's not that big of a deal!" She grit her teeth and looked away before quickly looking back at him because of a sudden realization. "Also, I thought I specifically told you to not worry about me! Or was I hallucinating from blood loss?" She pointed at him as if accusing him of lying or stealing.

"It seems to me to be a little bit of a big deal." He hissed out, and flexed his hands. His fingernails bit into his palms but it helped to control his volume. "And no, you did say that, but it's pretty idiotic of you to tell me to not worry."

"Idiotic?!" She whisper yelled, slowly trying to sit up more. "Is it really- ugh- so idiotic of me to tell you not to worry over me when I was nothing but a liability? Liabilities get you killed! So, excuse me if I just wanted you to get out alive."

"I was a liability, too, in case you forgot." Ford told her, crossing his arms. "I was captured, being held in a cage, without my glasses or any way out. I was the liability then, and yet you came to get me."

Star paused. She knit her brows together and made an involuntary noise that Ford couldn't place. Her gaze fell slowly to her lap where she twitched her hands.

"You're more important." She eventually mumbled, barely loud enough to hear.

The silence that followed was deafening. Ford's ears rang and his mind spun with about several hundred questions, but most of them started with _what_?

Star glared at him. "You heard me." Oh, so he had said it out loud. "You're more experienced than I am, more capable. Yeah, so I got lucky a few times. Four years is nothing compared to however long you've been doing this."

Four years, she said. Four years of experience. Four years of traveling the multiverse, four years of being on the run from Bill. All of those scars in four years.

Star was right, four years was almost nothing to thirty. It was barely anything to thirty years, but it wasn't nothing. Definitely not when she was already so young. Four years to a child probably felt like ten to him.

All the frustration in Ford sizzled out and he was left just staring at her. How old was she? Sixteen, maybe? His eyes traced the scars on her face and arms, taking it all in. In his head he saw the dozens of bodies lining the halls of the warehouse, saw the way she dealt with Terry, saw how she haggled expertly with the merchants in the street and always made sure she got the better deal.

She learned to do all of that in four years, when it took Ford four years to see how Bill was tricking him.

"Soooo... are you just going to stand there and catch flies, or...?"

Star's voice shook him from his thoughts, and he shut his jaw with a snap. He heaved a sigh and sat down on the floor next to the couch, his back to the arm rest near Star's feet. He didn't feel any of the anger from before, he just felt tired.

He could feel Star's eyes on him, and looked down at the ground. "I didn't want to fight with you." He told her after a few moments, and glanced back up at her. "I wanted to thank you."

"Huh? What? Why?"

"You got me out." He said, looking back to his hand. "You almost died to get me out of Cipher's grasp. So, thank you."

Star seemed to hesitate slightly. "Oh." There was beat where Star's eyes seemed to drift everywhere except to Ford. "Uh. No problemo, my... dude."

Ford quirked an eyebrow at the phrase but decided not to bring it up. The cabin went silent again, the dark red light of the fire flickering on their faces. Ford moved to pick up the piece he was working on again and began to fiddle with it. Star just lowered herself back down, being mindful of her stitches, and stared at the ceiling.

The silence wasn't bad, this time. It felt like there was an understanding between them. Ford grabbed some wires from the small pile next to him and stripped them down, his eyes flickering to Star occasionally. She seemed to be in thought, a deep frown on her face with creased brows.

"Hey, Sixer," She said eventually, shifting on the couch. Ford looked up and waited for her to continue. "Thanks for not giving up on me."

He nodded. "Of course." His hands froze for a second and he wet his lips with his tongue, trying to figure out if he should say anything else. "After all, we still need you to defeat Bill.”

Star laughed, bright and loud just like the rest of her. "That fuckin’ triangle better watch- ow, fuck, ow!" She hissed through her teeth, but was still smiling. She gingerly put a hand on her side, laughingly breathily. "Ha ha. Haaaaaah. Fuck that hurts."

Ford shook his head. "I told you to be careful." He still had a small smile on his face, though.

“Whatever, old man.” Star said, leaning back on the couch and watching him continue working over his shoulder.

“Teenagers.” Ford muttered, making Star snort. It was silent for a while as Star watched him twist and connect thick wires, his eyes scanning over a stack of pages every so often.

Gina’s snoring helped him focus, the background lulling his mind as he worked on autopilot. Star watched curiously, giving an occasional hum. Ford’s experienced hands were in no hurry as he twisted copper and tore off lining with his teeth, following the instructions given. He felt something tight in his chest loosen slightly, and his shoulders relaxed.

The rest of the party would wake up eventually, but for now Ford enjoyed the peace.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey folks welcome back to Generic Forest Setting #4 this time, we see what actually lives IN the forest
> 
> tw for animal death, i suppose

Star's recovery process went by fast, as she said it would. If Ford had been injured in that way, he would've needed weeks of bed rest just to be able to stand (at least, the last time he did, but the last time he was injured like that was years ago and he wasn’t getting any younger, really,) but Star was on her feet far sooner.

Ford woke up on the fourth morning after her injury and found her on her feet, doing… yoga, of all things.

“Star?” He rumbled, voice thick with sleep. He didn’t need to fumble for his glasses, as he had fallen asleep with them on.

Star jumped at the sound of his voice, almost losing her balance. “Holy shit!”

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be resting?” He asked as he sat up from his sleeping bag on the floor.

“I slept like, the whole night. I’m fine.”

“But- your injury?”

“It’s fine.”

“You shouldn’t be moving, your stitches-”

“Sixer, chill out.” She lifted her shirt from her abdomen, showing off her mostly healed sutured wound. “See? I’m good.”

Ford blinked, staring at the scar. That level of healing, that quickly, should’ve taken weeks, not days. “How the devil did has it healed so quickly?”

“I dunno, dude.” She said in a tone that meant she definitely knew.

Ford narrowed his eyes. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Heal so fast!”

She shrugged and continued her yoga poses. “Just did, I guess.”

“You said you were fully human, though.”

“I am fully human.”

“What type of magic did you use, then?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know of any magic that could heal a person that quickly, what is it?”

“I didn’t use any magic.”

“Then how-”

“Stop.” Star interrupted, holding her hand out. “I didn’t use magic, I am human, just leave it alone, dude. Stop nagging me.”

Ford stared at her, and then narrowed his eyes. She narrowed hers right back, putting her hands on her hips. They kept up their impromptu staring contest until Gina broke it up by shoving blueprints into each other their arms. They worked on opposite sides of the couch, casting glares at each other every so often. Teemo eventually left to go hunting, and Gina cursed them as they went out the door.

The glares went on for an hour more before Gina smacked them both upside the head and told them in no certain terms that they were both children, and if they were going to continue to act like children, she would put them on timeout. Star attempted to argue, not yet used to Gina being a woman of her word, and ended up sitting in the corner with her spell book. She grumbled the whole time until Teemo returned with food later that night.

Teemo had found some small prey animals, mostly chipmunk-looking beings, to cook after they skinned and cleaned them. Star stayed firmly away from the small kitchenette as they did so, giving sickened glances over to Gina and Ford as they got to work to prepare a stew. Every wet crunch, or the dripping of blood in the sink, made Star look more and more green.

Eventually, when she accidentally caught sight of them removing the innards of one of the furrier ones, she just left the room entirely and went to get some fresh air.

“Is she okay?” Ford asked quietly. He and Gina were cutting up the meat into chunks, with Teemo quietly sorting through wires and bolts in the corner near the fireplace. “She’s been gone for a while.”

“She’s probably fine.” Gina said absent-mindedly. “Just clearing her head. Honestly, she doesn’t even flinch at the sight of her own blood but this is what gets her?”

Ford hummed and dropped meat into a pot of boiling water. He glanced to the window, catching a glimpse of snow, but looked again and stared out it. What was Star doing out there? Why had she been gone so long? Surely, a small walk didn’t last this long. Did she run into trouble? Did she open up her stitching? Was she-

Gina bumped her hip to Ford’s, catching his attention as she washed her hands. “I can hear the cogs whirring in your head. Relax, Shooting Star can handle herself, I’m sure.”

Ford pursed his lips and he looked back at the window, not entirely convinced. They could have been followed very easily, he hadn’t even thought to cover their tracks in the snow when they were on their way back. A rookie mistake, he should’ve known better, honestly, but to be fair he was rather preoccupied.

Gina’s voice took on a softer tone as she dried her hands. “Ford.”

She put a hand on his face, and his eyes met hers. He was suddenly startled by her gentleness, he’d never known her for it. She’s always been tough, tense, with a bit of an attitude, and a lot of anxiety she kept smoothly hidden until things got tight. Now she was smiling at him, her whole demeanor softer.

“She’ll be okay, alright? She’s tough. You’ve seen her.” Gina told him reassuringly. “She’s just on a walk.”

Ford sighed, feeling comforted by her sudden soft, friendliness. “Yes. Yes, you’re right.”

“I know.” She grinned and patted his cheek twice, making him push her hand away. She laughed and moved past Ford to stir the bubbling pot. Ford’s shoulders had relaxed without him noticing, and he chuckled. “Can I get that in writing, though? With a signature? ‘ _I, Stanford Pines, hereby declare Gina, to be correct._ ’”

Ford shoved at her with his shoulder. “Better not push your luck.” He warned, moving to wash his hands as well. The atmosphere was warm and homely, with the stew creating heavenly aromas and the fireplace crackling pleasantly. Ford sighed again, content with the friends he’s made. It was nice to banter again.

Star returned just in time for dinner. She was fine, besides being slightly out of breath and a little sweaty.

“Where have you been?” Ford asked casually, except not at all and sounding slightly like a worried parent staying up after their kid didn’t make it back by curfew.

“Went on a run!” She said brightly.

Gina gave her a stink eye. “On a run? Didn’t I tell you no physical activity for a couple more weeks?”

“I don’t remember.” Star smiled a smile that only someone who did remember that, but chose to ignore it, would give. Gina sighed and mouthed ‘ _teens_ ’ to Ford. He snorted but quickly covered it up with a cough.

“Hey, that smells good.” Star changed the subject, coming over to the stove and smelling the pot. It was nothing but a broth, salt, and some meat chunks- but Ford understood hot food was usually a luxury when all they had to eat was granola bars, gummy vitamins, and nutrient cubes.

“It’s almost ready. Give it a few more minutes.” Ford told her.

“Awwwww, c’mon, Sixer. Just a taste?” She whined, pouting. Ford made a resolution to not look, don’t you dare glance at her big, watery brown eyes- _goddammit_ , he looked.

“Fine. One spoonful.”

Star grinned and grabbed her spork from her bag before grabbing a spoonful of broth with a single chunk of mystery red meat. She ate it without cooling it down. “AH! AH, ‘S HOT!”

Ford saw her fan her open mouth before swallowing and gasping. “Ow… hey, this tastes pretty good. Almost like beef, but also kinda fishy!”

Ford watched Star hover over to pot until the timer went off, smelling the steam coming off it and groaning while rubbing her stomach. She was fine, her wound was healing, and she wasn’t going to keel over any second as much as Ford’s paranoia thought she would.

Even so, even knowing logically that Star was safe, that Gina and Teemo were safe, that everyone was okay and safe and not in danger- Ford’s paranoia refused to calm. He had a hard time swallowing his food, his mind spinning in circles of _poisonous, poisoned, inedible, diseased_ , like a merry-go-round. He forced the stew down his throat, desperate to just let himself enjoy a hot meal for once. He’d prepared it himself, goddammit, and he trusted Gina. He trusted her. He could trust her, she was his friend!

_Call me… a friend._

**Trust no one.**

His old mantra bubbling up along with some unpleasant memories made him slam his finally empty bowl down and stand up. Everyone looked up at him, Star in the middle of taking a bite, and he immediately felt shame flood to his cheeks.

“I’m… I need some air.” He excused himself and hastily threw on his coat and stepped outside. The cabin was still visible to him as he stood on the small, covered deck. The snow was coming down thick, piling up on the empty branches of the black trees surrounding the clearing the cabin stood within.

He took a few deep breaths, cursing his paranoia for causing him to panic in front of everyone. This mission must be stressing him far more than he realized if his mind was acting up like this- he was usually far more calm and collected. Star’s injury must have shaken him harder than he originally believed.

Ford sat down on the steps, tucking his hands into his sides. He needed to find the root of this. Why had he suddenly become so attached to Star?

He went through her person. She had a bubbly personality, but was usually confident and calm. She cracked jokes even in the most dire of times (possibly as a coping mechanism?). He had noticed before- mostly subconsciously- that her hands still shook from the adrenaline rush of being in danger. She hadn’t quite gotten a handle on that, yet. But still- she was incredibly brave for someone her age.

He found himself smiling. A heavy- yet somehow incredibly light- feeling washed over him, something tightening in his chest, and he realized with a start that he was… proud of her. Proud of her accomplishments. Proud of her being able to fight and proud of her being able to save him from the hunters.

He hadn’t really ever felt proud of anyone else since… since Stanley, he supposed. Stanley winning his boxing tournaments, Stan getting his first car, Stan getting a good grade on something he did on his own, Stan owning up to something, Stan standing up for himself instead of just for Ford…

Star was being compared to Stan in his mind, somehow. She was so skilled in cheating that she had won in a game of Rangian Street Poker, she knew how to throw a punch, and she could take down a whole group of bounty hunters on her own. She was fiery and smooth and confident yet still somehow, with all these amazing things she knew and did, she still somehow thought the world of him.

She knit her brows together and made an involuntary noise that Ford couldn't place. Her gaze fell slowly to her lap where she twitched her hands.

"You're more important."

Star genuinely thought that Ford was more important than she was. Just remembering what she said made him dizzy. She was like all the good parts (not the lying, swindling, selfish, and destructive ones) of Stan wrapped up in one adorable and kickass package. It was no wonder Ford had become so attached so quickly. And Star- she’d warmed up to him faster than he expected.

She said he’d reminded her of someone. Someone she loved, obviously. He wondered, absently, if the ‘ _Dipper_ ’ she had mentioned was a relative. He even entertained the thought that this ‘Dipper’ was originally half of a pair with her, like Stan was to him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door behind him opening and closing. He didn’t look to see who it is, but he heard the tell-tale thud of cloven hooves against the hardwood of the cabin. Gina didn’t say anything until she had sat down next to him, her human half covered in a thick winter coat; complete with a fluffy, faux-fur interior.

“Hey,” She started, her voice quiet.

“Hey.” Ford responded, turning to face her. He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m okay.”

“Are you, though?”

Ford took a deep breath. “For now, I suppose.”

They lapsed back into silence. Ford’s eyes scanned the horizon, but he could feel Gina’s burning a hole into him. She pressed her side against his, her head falling gently on his shoulder as she stared up at him. Her body was naturally higher than his, and he could feel it radiating through her coat.

“Star’s injury rattled me more than I thought it did, I suppose.” Ford explained, bringing his hands to his lap.

“I know.” Gina said non-judgmentally. “You really care about her, huh?”

Ford sighed, his breath coming out in a cloud of vapor. “Yes. I supposed that I do.” He said with a soft smile. “She’s incredible, quite frankly. I’m glad that she’s here.”

“You mean fighting to survive while travelling alone across the multiverse?” Gina teased, and Ford rolled his eyes.

“You know what I mean.”

Gina hummed a laugh. “Yeah,” She whispered, pressing closer to him. “I guess I do.”

“I’m here for you, Ford.” Gina continued. “I’m not letting go of you again.”

Ford smiled, but something bitter and ugly reared its head at those words. “You can’t promise that.”

“Then I won’t.” Gina told him simply, and Ford turned to look at her face again. Her eyes were firm, but she had a bright smile. “But I will promise to do my best by you, and to always fight for you.” Something swelled in his heart and Ford couldn’t press back the grin that wormed its way onto his face.

“Only if you let me promise the same thing for you.” He leaned back, and Gina’s smile widened.

“I would expect nothing less of you.” She said, and leaned in closer. She gently placed a kiss on his cheek before pulling away.

Ford felt like he was about to burst with the amount of fireworks he felt in his chest. “Gina,” He started, eyes locked onto hers.

“Yeah?”

“I- You- You mean so… so much to me.” He breathed. “I just- I want you to know, before we fight Bill again, that I’m so glad to have a good friend like you.”

Gina stared blankly at him, then snorted. She started giggling uncontrollably, pressing a hand to her mouth to attempt to muffle them. Ford felt all he warmth drain out of his chest as she laughed at him, being replaced with burning coldness.

  
“I-” Ford frowned, pulling away from Gina as she continued to break in giggles. “Never- never mind. Just- forget I even said anything.”

“No- No, wait-” She gasped between laughs. “Ford!”

“No, it’s fine.” He said. He couldn’t feel anything, just… numbness. A hollow, overwhelming feeling. It always happened sooner or later in his relationships. He would get attached, they would promise to be his friend and then it always ends up like this. He stood up, leaving her sitting on the step. “I get it. I read it wrong. You don’t have to make fun of me for it.”

Gina sobered up immediately. “Wait- no- _Ford_ , it’s not like that. I would never hurt you.”

Ford hesitated and stared at Gina. “Then- then what just happened? Why were you laughing at me?”

“I wasn’t laughing at you. I was laughing at myself.” She explained, getting to her hooves. “I- fuck, Ford, I’ve been flirting with you for years.”

Ford stared. His mind went blank.

“I always knew you weren’t the flirting type, but you didn’t seem to be uncomfortable or ever rejected my flirting so I just kept doing it. But I guess it’s just ‘cus you never knew it was flirting.”

Ford does not compute.

“Even when I first met you I was constantly flirting. Remember when I kept blushing every time you complimented me? Or how I kept calling you ruggedly handsome? Like, come on. You had to have know. Hey, are you even listening right now?”

Ford blinked his eyes rapidly. “You- flirting- me???”

Gina pressed a fist to her mouth to prevent herself from laughing again. “Yes, dumbass.”

“I- I- I- I- I-” Ford stuttered. They both jumped when he heard the door to the cabin open.

“Sixer, are you done sul… king…?” Star had stepped out onto the porch and paused as she took in the scene before her. Ford pressed his face into his hands to hide his blush from Star. She was never going to let him live this down.

“What’s goin’ on, bud?” Star asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. She sounded thoroughly amused. “You okay?”

“Why.” He groaned into his hands. “Why this. I never wanted this.”

Gina snorted. “F- Sixer, it’s fine if you don’t want anything like that. I know that you're not generally into women-”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Star held up both her hands. “Are you coming onto him, Gina?”

Gina made a noise that Ford couldn’t place, and he peeked through his fingers to see Gina was now blushing, too. “No! … Maybe! He doesn’t want me to so-”

“Oh my god.” Star laughed. “Oh my GOD. This is the best. I’m- I don’t even know what to say. Holy shit.”

“Shut up.” Ford muttered.

“D’awww, Sixer, it’s okay.” Star’s voice sounded so genuine that Ford found the courage to look at her. “I’m an _expert_ wedding planner!”

Gina choked and made a strangled bleating noise, and Ford started sputtering. “No NO- no, don’t- don’t even say that-!”

She cackled manically and slung her arm over his shoulder. “I’m already seeing it in my head. It’ll be the grandest event in the multiverse, there’ll be karaoke and a hot cocoa bar- oh my gosh, what do you guys think of having a orange and purple color scheme?”

Ford shoved her off of him and walked back into the cabin, closing and locking the door behind him. Star pounded on it, trying to looking side through the tiny window on the top of the door. Teemo flicked their tongue and continued to flip through a human tween magazine on the couch.

“Sixer! Let us in! You can’t run from true love!” She yelled. Gina lost her shit in the background of her cries.

Ford decided that a couple hours in the cold would do them some good.

  
\---

Ford trudged through the snow as silently as possible. His eyes scanned the forest around him, trying to spot any movement. Everything around him was quiet, save for his own footsteps and the rustle of the wind in the trees. The snow was up to his ankles, now. The night sky was calm, with not a cloud in sight after a couple days of unending snowfall.

Something to Ford's left moved- the sound of skittering paws through snow- and he snapped his eyes in the direction it came from. A small mammal like critter, black against the white snow, was moving between the trees. Ford aimed his small gun at it, finger itching the trigger as he waited for an opening-

A small, colorful blur burst out from behind him, taking Ford by surprise as it bound towards the creature. It grasped the small thing and with an echoing crack it went limp. Teemo proudly held it up for Ford to see, it's neck clenched tightly in their claws.

"Good job." Ford nodded, taking the furry mammal and putting it in the cloth sack he carried. Teemo nodded back, seemingly pleased with the praise as their eyes narrowed in what Ford knew was their way of smiling. It was rather cute, this tiny lizard person smiling at him while giving him a dead animal. It was also slightly reminiscent of a cat bringing a mouse or bird to a human as a gift.

Gina had tasked Ford with going hunting with Teemo as a punishment for locking her outside three days previously. He had pouted but took it with dignity as Star was continuing to make marriage jokes at his expense (Gina didn't seem to care about them, or just found humor in them, so Star had given up on teasing her) and he would take any excuse to get some quiet time to think of further revenge and retribution for this misdeed.

Ford looked to the stars, admiring the purple-tinted night sky and the half-moons. He found it interesting that the moon cycles seemed to be synced up with one another, considering that they were different sizes as well. The stars and bright galaxies that he could see with his naked eyes were twinkling gently. This planet really was beautiful. He could never get over the beauty and vastness of space.

There was the sudden sound of snow being kicked up, then a squeak and a snap, and then Teemo was standing in front of him again. They handed him a scaly, reptilian animal, and Ford decided he didn't want to think about Teemo handing him a dead lizard that any further. He just put it in the bag, gave Teemo a pat on the shoulder, and kept moving while they made a soft, happy noise behind him.

They walked on for a good ten minutes, periodically pausing to scan for tracks or listen for any noises. Ford gave up on trying to catch anything himself mostly just pointed out small animals and Teemo pounced on them, snapping their necks cleanly. Ford wondered how strong Teemo really was, considering how small they were. They only came up to his chest and were rather thin with not a lot of muscle or fat. Kind of like a lizard, he supposed.

He whistled sharply, catching Teemo’s attention, and nodded towards two squirrel-ish things he spotted up a tree. They seemed to vibrate in excitement and ran at them on all fours, scaling the tree before falling to the forest floor. They chirped loudly and began to wrestle with them in the snow.

Ford’s attention, however, was drawn away and towards a larger tree with a hole in it. The reason being that he heard a soft noise coming from it. High pitched and crying. He approached it carefully and peered inside, finding a fluffy white mound of wriggling somethings.

Teemo continued to play with the squirrels while Ford reached a gloved hand in and gently, oh so carefully, removed a wriggly thing. It made a noise like it was crying but settled down when Ford brought it to his chest, trying to wiggle into his jacket for warmth. He couldn’t quite make out what it was for a moment, until it flopped over in his hands to get more warmth from his body heat.

It look like a rabbit. Pink nose, red eyes, long ears, tiny little teeth sticking out of its mouth. The thing that made Ford gasp and grin like a child on Hanukkah was the fact that it had two of each. In fact, it had two heads, both with their own pair of ears. It made a soft noise and the pile of them cried back, wiggle with more ferocity than before when they realized their sibling was not with them. Ford gently placed it back and watched it disappear into the ever revolving mound.

Ford couldn’t stop smiling at them. They were absolutely fascinating to observe. It was times like this that he wished he had his journals again, just to record the amazing things he sees. Not to mention, they were just adorable. No one could resist the cuteness of a baby rabbit, especially not when the cuteness is doubled up. He kinda wanted to steal one as a pet, but knew that logically he had no idea how to care for any kind of pet. Illogically, he still wanted one.

He laughed when he watched one stray from the pack and immediately fall over like a newborn kitten. He watched it struggle a bit, it’s two heads appearing to fight for control a bit, before giving up and crying for its family. They all started crying back, but none of them could help the small one. Ford gently guided it back to bed and the crying immediately died down again. He kinda wanted to cry over how cute it all was.

Suddenly realizing that Teemo was now standing next to him, Ford glanced at them. They were holding both squirrels, with some scratches on their face. Their head tilted slightly at Ford’s apparent elation. He gestured to the tree, and watched them lean into it and blink at the rabbits.

“Aren’t they amazing?” Ford gushed in a hushed tone so as not to disturb them.

Teemo looked at him, then the rabbits again, and then back at Ford. They smiled in their own way, and Ford smiled back. Then he realized their expression wasn’t what he immediately thought it was. They were smiling, yes, but their mouth was drawn in a way that made them look… amused more than excited. Amused at Ford. They chittered softly, like a laugh, almost. They had a teasing, smug aura to them and Ford was struck with the horrifying realization that Teemo and Star were friends for a reason.

Teemo saw his furrowed brow and chittered louder, looking far, far too happy over his horror that they had more in common with Star than he originally thought.

How on earth did they tease him without even speaking? It was horrible. Star was a horrible influence. Now he needed to exact revenge on two people.

His revenge plan was cut short, as he heard a soft thudding of steps against the frozen earth, and a harsh snort. He and Teemo blinked, then looked to their left. Then they saw it. A big, hooved animal with harsh, shaggy fur and only three legs. It was about the size of a bison, from what Ford could remember, except it had a longer face and two extra eyes. It’s tusks were long, it’s horns longer and spiraling.

It hadn’t appeared to notice them, seeming preoccupied with snuffling at the ground and digging at it with one of it’s front hooves. Teemo and Ford had a silent conversation, which was only Teemo shaking their head and gesturing Ford towards it, and Ford pulling a larger gun out from his coat and nodding.

The creature was so big that Ford had no trouble aiming for it. With a quick breath, and a pull of the trigger, a laser shot through the ribs of the animal clean through the other side. It reared up and made a loud, moaning noise and began to run off. Ford swore and began to trail it’s prints, not running just yet. Teemo followed.

The thing was fast, but with it’s injury Ford knew it would slow eventually. He tracked it’s prints in the snow, trailing behind it as it ran. Teemo just allowed Ford to lead for the first time this trip, knowing that this type of hunt was more the style for a human.

They found it sooner than Ford thought they would, only about twenty minutes of a brisk walk. It was dead when they arrived, tongue lolling out and eyes glazed over.

Teemo lit up and went to prepare to drag it back, but Ford threw a hand out. He scanned the trees around them, looking for any signs of movement. They made a confused noise next to him. Ford glanced at them for a moment and then gestured to the snow around the dead creature.

There were another set of tracks, coming from the opposite direction.

**Author's Note:**

> ofstarsandsixers.tumblr.com
> 
> gaykravitz.tumblr.com


End file.
